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VTalk Radio Photography Spotlight
Today's Guest: Jeff Hawkins of Jeff Hawkins Photography in Orlando, Florida
Today's Host: John Bentley

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JOHN: Welcome to VTalk Radio Photography Spotlight. Today's program is sponsored by Morephotos.com. The online total photo sales solution for professional photographers worldwide. I'm your host, John Bentley.

JOHN: Today we're in the studio with Jeff Hawkins of Jeff Hawkins Photography of Orlando, Florida. Welcome to the program, Jeff.

JEFF: Hey, thanks guys.

JOHN: Can you tell us a little bit about your photography business?

JEFF: Well, I guess we can start off, I don't want to seem to old, but it's like for the last 25 years, we've been pursuing photography and really kind of building on that over the years, and building a reputation which we definitely have in this area of being one of the premiere photographers, and we primarily specializing in weddings and that's what we're pretty much known for, but the portraits area such as maternity all the way through wherever they end. We like to do this what we call more of a definitive concept and it's really worked out great for us.

JOHN: Great. Can you tell me some of the other services you provide?

JEFF: Well we do all of our artistry. Everyone of our images are artfully mastered and we do all that in house and send of course to our lab, but we will pretty much focus on just whatever needs to be photographed with the primary focus being weddings and portraits, but we have done the commercial aspect where we'll do business head shots, we'll do public relations photography, we'll go out and photograph seminars and CEOs speaking, and things of that nature. I've photographed cars and boats and dogs and everything else. But it's not one of the things I advertise or promote to.

JOHN: Jeff, what are some of the cities and communities in your area that you service.

JEFF: Well, we're located in the central Florida area which is Orlando and in the surrounding area you have a lot of really affluent communities such as Heathrow, you have Isleworth, Windermere, Lake Mary, Longwood, Winter Park is another main area. And these are areas we like to focus our advertising efforts in, because we know if we're targeting in the $250,000 plus range, this is where we're gonna find them. So, there are a lot of great communities around here. There's a lot of people in central Florida. So we have a good market to pool from.

JOHN: Are there any facilities or halls that you like to use?

JEFF: Well, they have some fabulous facilities here such as the Grande Lakes Resort which encompasses the Ritz Carlton and J.W. Marriott complexes. Just an incredible property. Photographically you can not get a bad photograph at that place. I tell the brides, you know, you can get married in the bathroom your gonna great photographs. That's how incredible it is. But you have that facility which is one of my favorites. Of course, Walt Disney World is one of the prime areas for weddings. There we've done over the many years, have done a lot of weddings out there at the Disney complex. We also have a lot of major country clubs here such as Isleworth, Kings Point, Heathrow Country Club which is a real popular place. The Orlando Country Club which is a phenomenal place. I think they've spent over the past couple of years a couple million dollars renovating the project and it's just again one of those properties where you just can not get bad photographs at.

JOHN: Well that's good to know. Can you tell us why you decided to become a photographer, Jeff?

JEFF: Well you know it was the kinda thing that you just know if you like something and when something you do ceases to be work, then it's probably something you should pursue, because you don't look at it as being a job. You look at it as being something you enjoy doing versus the people who are stuck in the J.O.Bs and which basically means "just over broke" when they have that and it's like, look you know, I enjoy doing photography. I specialize in people photography and I enjoy making them look good and seeing their reactions we get once we create these beautiful portraits or wedding images and I mean you're documenting the family history. You're archiving their legacy and so we take great pride in what we do and how we do it to help these people, and of course this is what brings them back to us over and over again. But I think making people look good and assisting them and making them feel comfortable in front of the camera is probably one of the primary goals I have, because it's one of the knacks I have is to make people feel at ease and comfortable in front of the camera.

JOHN: Well that is certainly very important when you have a nervous bride, or certainly anybody that's uncomfortable being shot. I noticed on your home page you have a nice little slogan on the front of that. Can you tell us what that is?

JEFF: Well, one of the things we kind of started doing, everybody has you know the best and all that we just came up with "only the finest will do" and of course when you see the flash coming up on the home page, we have the real emotions and their real lives and that's really what it's all about. That's what we want to do is capture them being real, not staging and posing them to the point where they feel like statues. So it kind of helps our message to know that, hey, when you come to us and you're gonna have a portrait done, we want to document you and photograph you being natural, being yourselves, and then you're gonna like the images better because you're not gonna look like a mannequin sitting there having your photograph taken.

JOHN: Very important. Now speaking of your website, why don't you give us your website address and contact information, Jeff.

JEFF: Ok. The website is www.jeffhawkins.com and it's, we try to keep the website very easy to navigate. I think that's one of the keys in doing so making it easy for your customers to find what they need to find without having undue amounts of text they have to scroll through and read through. People come there to look at images so the website is very important in your overall marketing scheme because that's what is the first thing they are really gonna see and it's gonna keep them there and pick up the phone and call ya.

JOHN: Speaking of, what is your phone number Jeff?

JEFF: Oh great, it's (407) 834-8023 and we have a toll free 800 number (800) 822-0816 we do portraits and weddings all over the world so we like to keep the 800 number access there, and of course the website is accessible anywhere in the world so it works out great for us...

JOHN: Well you are listening to VTalk Radio's Photographers' Spotlight. We're in the studio with Jeff Hawkins of Jeff Hawkins Photography of Orlando, Florida. We are going to take a break for these important messages; we'll be right back.

ANNOUNCER: This VTalk Radio Spotlight is sponsored by morephotos.com. The online photo sales solution for professional photographers worldwide.

VTALK RADIO ... we now return you to VTalk Radio Photographer's Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.

JOHN: Welcome back to VTalk Radio's Photographer's Spotlight. We are in the studio with Jeff Hawkins of Jeff Hawkins Photography of Orlando, Florida. Welcome back to the program Jeff.

JEFF: Ok, thanks very much.

JOHN: Now I understand you are a member of a number of organizations. Can you tell us little bit about those?

JEFF: Well, we're heavily involved in the Wedding and Portrait Photographer's International which is WPPI and a lot of photographers in the wedding and portrait aspect know about this organization. I think it's a tremendous group. Steve Sheenan and the crew over there have just created an awesome educational concept that we as photographers can use to educate ourselves in the latest and greatest technology. As does PPA, Professional Photographers of America, and the education aspect I think is incredible because I think these days we have so many new photographers coming into the business and a lot of them, of course, coming in on the heels, or actually right into digital without every knowing anything about film. So, a lot of these kids coming in have, don't even know what file is. So there's a great educational aspect that we use in these organizations to educate them and get them up to speed on what's happening out there.

JOHN: Now you're also a member of what's called Canon Explorers of Light? Can you tell us a little bit about that?

JEFF: Through Canon USA, we were honorably invited to be an explorer of light which is one that their mentor program and in this program, I mean geez, you have some of the top photographers in the entire world. I mean historic photographers. And to be considered among the top 60 top photographers in the world, I think it's a top honor. But I think it enables us to get Canon's message across that, hey we have a great product here. It's gonna assist you in creating great images, but also make it easier for your to work with a camera cause the cameras are so technologically advanced. They create just a wonderful product that I think even if the person just coming on board to photography would be easy enough to just pick it up and start creating great images.

JOHN: Well I can attest to that. I picked up a Canon Rebel about a year and a half ago, and absolutely love that camera.

JEFF: Yeah, it's truly one of the great cameras you pick up for $800 or $900, and in fact we were gonna pick one of those up when we go on vacations and such because it's just so light and it has so many great features that it's easy to do that rather than dragging around the 1DS Mark 3 which again is ok, it's not as heavy, but it still, without having to have that great expense to take on board. So awesome products.

JOHN: Yes, they are. Jeff can you tell me why did you decide to become a photographer in the first place?

JEFF: Well you know I think it just boiled down to the fact that I enjoyed what I was doing. I felt I had a knack of making people feel comfortable in front of the camera cause I started out in fashion photography like a lot of us do, and it just kind of built from there. I mean I as a fashion photographer I realized quite early you aren't going to make a lot of money doing fashion photography. I mean you could shoot models and doing all that stuff, but once you're over that, it's a, you realize you gotta start making money and quit playing around. I also became a makeup artist. You know I learned the business and then it just kind of advanced from there into other avenues where I did a couple of weddings and said, "wow I really like doing these." And it just kind of spread from there. And of course from the weddings stems into our portraiture, and one of the things we started promoting was our portrait of a lifetime program which in essence says that once a bridal couple signs up with us, they are instantly entered into this program which says that every photo session for the rest of their life is free. They never have to pay us a sitting fee ever again. What this has done from a marketing standpoint is make these people come back to us over and over again and over again, because they already no us, they like us, they know the policies and the photographs and everything else, but they're not having to pay that sitting fee over and over and over again. So, they kinda like that and they like the relationship that we have.

JOHN: Well that certainly makes your services unique. What other things set you apart from the competition?

JEFF: Well, I think to, that you know what we have here is we've developed not a huge organization, we kinda keep it small. I don't like to have staff of a bunch of photographers running around. I have my apprentice, Jeremy, who has been with us now close to a year. And this is being taught in my style so then I can start booking him on doing weddings and portraits, you know, helping to run the studio here and helping production. Kathleen, my wife, helps to keep us under control here and keep things in line. She handles the business aspect of it. We have a person who comes in that will do the Quickbooks and take of all of our accounting efforts. We will be bringing someone on here shortly to assist Kathleen as a personal assistant because of the marketing efforts that we do. But I think that is one of the keys to our success is the fact that we have an organization behind what we do versus a lot of people who are just one man operations. There's nothing wrong with that by any means, its' just if I'm promoting to a bride that you know look we have a whole system behind us. We're not gonna just photograph your wedding and turn the disk over to you and see ya later say bye bye. We want you for a lifetime. We want to be your family photographer. So there's where we've instituted these programs which again help us to be successful and stand apart from the rest.

JOHN: We've been in the studio with Jeff Hawkins of Jeff Hawkins Photography of Orlando, Florida. Jeff could you give us your website and contact information one more time before we let you go?

JEFF: Sure, it's www.jeffhawkins.com and our contact information - I'll start with the 800 number - (800) 822-0816. If you are gonna call and request information, and ask questions about photography, please don't use our 800 number because that costs us money. The best way to reach us there is by our email which is jeff@jeffhawkins.com or kathleen@jeffhawkins.com. That's usually the best way because we are usually on tour or we're not in the office. That's the best way to reach us for questions and technical advice.

JOHN: Thanks for coming to the program today, Jeff, we appreciate your visit.

JEFF: Hey I appreciate that.

JOHN: You are listening to VTalk Radio's Photographer's Spotlight. This is John Bentley saying, "Good Day!"

ANNOUNCER: You have been listening to the VTAlk Radio Spotlight; only on vtalkradio.com. Radio for the 21st Century.

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