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A Month Rich with Subjects
May is one of the best months of the year wherever you live on the globe. Spring is in full force in the Northern Hemisphere and it’s a mild month of the fall in the Southern Hemisphere. Landscapes and nature are great subjects at this time of year, as part of the world re-emerges green and filled with colorful flowers and the other part of the globe displays its fall colors. Migratory animals are on the move. Those that have been hibernating are active.
Mother’s Day occurs during May in the US, so think of giving Mom something more meaningful than the same bouquet of flowers or box of candy millions of other mothers are receiving. Create a custom photo book of old and/or current family photos or an album of your best images. When you visit Mom on this special day, make sure you take plenty of pictures of her and with other members of the family that are there to honor her.
May is also graduation month for most students. Be ready to tell the story of the graduate or graduates in your family in a series of photos that, again, can be presented in a photo book, as a gift. Designate yourself as the official family photographer on graduation day, so everyone has access to pictures of the entire event and celebration. It’s a great opportunity to improve your skills as an events photographer.
Memorial Day Weekend will include many observances of those that have fought…and died…for their country. Look for opportunities to create poignant images of your family or others remembering their loved ones, laying flowers at their graves and recording military parades and commemorations.
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Making Money with Your Camera During Memorial Day Weekend
Many community organizations and private groups have large Memorial Day celebrations, picnics, etc. Offer your services to photograph these events, so organizations and companies will have pictures for their Websites or to give prints to employees. It’s also an opportunity to promote photo books to capture all the day’s activities and fun, which you can then offer for sale to the guests and participants.
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Promote Your Senior High School Portrait Business
With the school year about to end, May is a great month to promote and schedule high school portraits with juniors who will be seniors next year. You could offer a discount on a photo book or other printed materials (cards, posters, etc.) when any junior schedules his or her session during May.
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Promote Family Portraits
May is one of the best months for outdoor family portraits. Colorful patches of flowers are in abundance and the weather is mild, but not hot, like it will be during the summer. Plus, during the summer months, children have many activities and families take vacations, making it more difficult to find time for photo sessions. Again, offer incentives to boost the number of family portrait shoots during May and into the first two weeks of June.
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Promote Photography in Your Community
Part of your marketing plan as a professional photographer is to find opportunities to be interviewed by the media as the local expert in your profession. You may be able to find local TV stations, especially 24-hour cable news channels, that are more amenable to interviewing you and showing some of your work in accordance with National Photography Month.
Offer yourself as a speaker at community organizations or business groups to promote the joy of photography as a hobby (and, of course, promoting PhotographyTalk.com as the best place for new photographers to come for information and inspiration).
You could also offer to conduct a free workshop at a school or the local garden club to help its members take better pictures of their prized plants and flowers. Make sure to write and distribute a press release about your workshop.
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Challenge Yourself
What better month than National Photography Month to challenge yourself to learn a new technique or to rent a piece of equipment you’ve never used? Visit the PhotographyTalk.com Forum, where you’ll find many videos on various techniques you can try this month.
Image credit: william87 / 123RF Stock Photo
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