12 May May Member Spotlight: Kelley Ryden and Tracy Raver!
In the spotlight this month, Tracy Raver and Kelley Ryden, authors of “Sleeping Beauties: Newborns in Dreamland” have been photographing newborns exclusively since 2007. Kelley brings to this duo her stellar camera skills and comforting of the newborns, while Tracy adds her handmade crafts, perfect posing and great set-ups. Teaching workshops on their technique in-studio and abroad, Tracy and Kelley will conduct an intimate workshop for attendees on the finer points of newborn photography at this summer’s NAPCP Retreat 2011: Vail.
Tell us about yourselves and how you make your business work?
It helps so much Kelley and I get to work together as a team. That’s how we can get some pretty tricky shots. Kelley’s the technical side and I’m the artsy side. Put the two together and it just works.
How do you maintain a work/life balance while juggling the studio management, teaching workshops, and motherhood?
It’s very hard to not work all the time. We do limit our number of private sessions per month to about 6 each. Then with teaching and publishing work it can add up fast to work overload. Just being honest with our clients on how long it takes is a key. We do strive to capture images in camera the best we can so that limits our time editing on the computer.
What was the biggest turning point for your business?
An article published in a UK on line periodical. That’s how the Today Show found us and lead to getting a publisher and the two books we have in stores now. We were busy before this with client work, now it’s almost non-stop craziness! We wouldn’t have it any other way. We like to keep busy and working hard in the studio getting amazing shots.
What has (and hasn’t) worked well for you in terms of your marketing strategy?
We let our websites do the marketing for us. Keep them updated with new images as well as our blogs. Word of mouth by our clients keeps the clients coming.
As someone who’s been in business for several years, what’s one piece of advice you can give to those starting out?
Know your camera, know your style and be comfortable with your pricing. Keep your number of clients per month to a manageable number. The more you can give good customer service the more referrals you’ll get and the faster your business will grow.
We are thrilled to watch your business continue to grow. What are your plans for the future?
Future plans are to get our own babies older and all in school and then do some traveling to teach and client work. We’d absolutely love to get some celebrity newborns as well. We will continue with publishing work and have one more book to produce which will come out in the next year or so.
What are some of your favorite product offerings and biggest sellers?
We are very simple as is the area we live in, good midwest living. Basic wall prints are what our clients want, and always an announcement card. We are starting more to get interest in custom designed client books. Those are fun to put together and just amazing in print.
We are so excited to have you both join us as featured speakers at this year’s NAPCP Retreat 2011: Vail! What will you be sharing with us?
We will be sharing everything we know! No questions will go un-answered…We strive to show how to keep baby calm, good camera technique and capturing the shot.
To see more about these two, visit Kelley’s site here, and Tracy’s site here!
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