Case Study: Kainaz Amaria

Kainaz Amaria needed help focusing her website and print portfolio edits to better convey the kind of work she wants to be known for. We talked about her style and where she wants to see her business go in the next couple of years. Then we got to work re-editing all of her images. We created new, more streamlined galleries on her site and built a print portfolio that reflected the changes.

After we completed the editing, we worked on print promo concepts. We knew we wanted to be able to show a variety of images and make a great first impression. Originally, we had a stack of 6 promo cards in a custom slip case printed in India. Unfortunately, the quality of the printing wasn't up to par and we had to start over. San Diego-based Modern Postcard came to the rescue with a custom printing solution that worked with Kainaz's budget. In the end, we modified the original idea to create one card that folds out. The card is 6x9 inches when folded, and folds out to 6x27 inches. Each panel is perforated so that clients can keep just one image if they want to.

Kainaz included a personal letter of introduction and her signature, and hand addressed all of her envelopes. I think it lends a very personal touch.

Tiffany Brown Marketing Campaign

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Las Vegas-based Tiffany Brown needed a marketing campaign that would announce her move from staff newspaper photographer to the freelance editorial and commercial market. Since Las Vegas is such a travel destination, we decided on a campaign built around the theme of boarding passes. With designer de-mo.org, we created a stunning promo consisting of 6 "boarding passes" sent out in a zip-sealed Mylar bag. We also created a print giveaway promotion and a coordinated email promo.

Read more about Tiffany's rebranding process on her blog.

Matt Nager

I recently wrapped up work with Matt Nager. Matt is a very talented portrait and documentary photographer whose old website was obscuring a lot of his strongest work. We started by talking about his strengths, defining what his main goals were and establishing the best way to spend his marketing dollars to reach those goals. We completely overhauled the website, resulting in a fresh and streamlined site powered by aphotofolio.com. His previous site featured too many choices of stories for editors to go through, so the new site is all about delivering his best images efficiently so that busy editors don't miss the strongest work.

We also put together a print promo (quantity 750 printed by paperchase.net) announcing his upcoming move to Denver. The promo features images that highlight his strengths in portraiture, travel and documentary.

My personal favorite part of our project was developing the print portfolio (I just love print books!). Matt teamed up with the very talented Scott Mullenberg at portfoliodesignstudio.com.  Scott sent a variety of fabric samples for us to consider. We narrowed down the choices to a palette of blues and browns and finally decided on what you see below. I edited and sequenced Matt's work to highlight his diversity but also to show that he approaches all of his subjects with a consistent personal style and vision.

I am really happy with the finished product. Matt traveled to NYC and DC and got 23 meetings in just a little over a week. Upon returning home, Matt said "I think editors really liked having a physical book, it honestly made a huge difference." Many editors mentioned loving the colors as well. Actually showing your book to a lot of clients is the best way to gauge if the edit and sequence are right, and Matt might make a few tweaks to the book. But the overall impression was that "the sequencing was really great and showed off (his) versatility."

Of course now the real work begins... all of the follow up marketing that will help Matt capitalize on the the momentum we have built. To help with that, I created a year long marketing plan for him that incorporates suggestions for print promos, newsletters, social media and in person meetings.

Best of luck with the next year Matt!