More Info...

Course Catalog — complete list of NYN Photo School courses

Free 6-Day Business Of Photography E-Course Table of Contents — introduction to the business of photography

FAQs — Q&A

Testimonials — what our students say

Enroll — choose a course, tuition options, and enroll!

Frequently Asked Questions

How much of the $495 Pam charges is profit?

Ooops...first a little update...

Pam prices have gone up!...during her last batch of sessions, Pam offered a standard session priced at $697.00 and a deluxe session priced at $997.00.

At those prices, she was pretty well booked solid, too. And in case you’re curious, about half of her clients took the deluxe package and half took the standard, which puts the average session price at around $847.00. That, of course, doesn’t include reprints and other “backend” sales.

Based on that, I should change the title of the e-book book to The Secret of Making $5,082.00 in One Weekend Photographing People and Pets, but a lot of people have a hard time comprehending making only $2,970.00 in one weekend, so I’ve just let the original title stand.

And the truth is, most people don’t start out that way (although some do) — most start out at a lower price point. But for the sake of accuracy, I did want to let you know what Pam is charging now!

Now, in answer to the original “how much is profit” question, when Pam was charging $495, her expenses were about $100 leaving a profit of around $400, plus whatever we made from reprint orders which can be substantial.

That was also when we were using film and lab processing. These days, we print “in house” and the expense calculation is a bit more complicated. Truth is, I’ve not kept good track of that recently. I just make sure we charge enough so that expenses are a minor issue.

And that brings us to the heart of the matter — as you can see by Pam’s upwardly mobile session fees, pricing and profits in this business are very fluid.

For example, we know of one pet photographer who charges $4,500.00 a session, works from home, and is booked 6-8 times a week. Another, who was profiled on NPR, charges $1,400 for a session with no prints included. She does $500,000 a year.

Nice work if you can get it!

And you can. Just don’t expect to get there in one week. Your first step is to get started. Get started at a price point that’s comfortable for you, in a market that’s approachable for you, then start working your way up!

You can make it profitable on your way up by simply adjusting what you deliver to your clients relative to what you are charging. In other words, if you’re charging less, you give them less. As you work your way up the price “ladder,” you can add better quality, service, and products.

Keep in mind that the best photographers today, at some point, started at the bottom. With the Not Your Normal photography® course, however, you'll be able to jump ahead and start a few “notches” up! And that’s good news.

But the really good news is, THERE IS NO TOP!...

No matter how much you charge, no matter how good you get, there is always one more step “up the ladder” for you to take. That’s the beauty of this business and why it keeps you satisfied for life!

Do I need a medium format camera?

No, we’ve always used a 35mm SLR, either film or digital. It’s easier to use, and less expensive to acquire and operate. Pam and I regularly enlarge our photos up to 2x3 feet with great results, so quality isn’t an issue either.

That doesn’t mean you can or shouldn’t use medium format, or that there aren’t quality advantages. There are, but those advantages are beyond what you need to satisfy clients in our type of business.

Do I need a tripod?

No. Part of the “secret” to getting natural shots being flexible and being able to move around. It’s the same reason you want to have Pam’s “set it and forget it” lighting working for you. Stick your camera on a tripod, spend time messing with your lights, and by the time you press the button, your subjects will be looking bored and stiff!

With that said, we have some students who are older or have mobility problems and a tripod is useful for them. There are also some photographers who handle a tripod as easily and naturally as a “third arm.” If that’s you, fine — it’s the result that matters, not whether you use a certain piece of equipment or not.

Should I use digital or film?

In the words of marketing great Claude Hopkins, “People want results, they care not how you get them!”

So, whatever technology you’re comfortable with, use it. As long as you can make your clients happy, it doesn’t matter if you’re using digital or film.

Rest assured just about everything we teach in the main (printed) Not Your Normal Photography® course including Pam’s “set it and forget it” lighting applies to both digital and film — the magic is in the posing, the people handling, and the way we do business, not in any particular image capture technology.

Where digital has a real advantage is in the processing and printing of the image. These advantages are significant, and some capabilities, like the ability to remove a few zits, are becoming expected by clients.

Do you use digital or film?

 

Again, as marketing great Claude Hopkins said, “People want results, they care not how you get them!”

And Pam has been getting great results for many years with a variety of equipment.

Here’s a brief synopsis...

Pam started with a Canon AT-1. Later, she switched to a Nikon 8008 my dad gave her because he didn’t like all the electronic gizmos on it.

Pam didn’t use many of the gizmos either. When the 8008 broke, we bought a new Nikon N90s which had even more gizmos she didn’t use.

For film, Pam was using whatever the latest Kodak consumer-grade 100 speed film was, because it was forgiving on exposure and the clients liked it. However, when Kodak came out with Portra film, she switched to the Kodak Portra 160NC.

We still have all our film cameras (because Pam wouldn’t let me sell them!), but we have been shooting digital for quite a while now. At the moment, we have 2 Fuji S2s and we print everything out on an Epson 7800.

When you enroll in Not Your Normal Photography course, you'll get all the nitty gritty details of our entire digital workflow.

I've been told, by the way (by people who have explored and tried a lot of digital systems), that our “fast track” digital tutorials and workflow are worth the entire cost of the course. And that’s probably right, it took Pam and me hundreds of hours, and I don't even want to think about how much money, getting everything just right!

But we did get it right and you can easily follow our path to client-pleasing results, while at the same time, following a workflow system that also provides for built-in redundant backups, a logical file-naming system, and way of cataloging that allows you to easily find your photos in the future (when Aunt Mable calls 10 years from now and wants a reprint of her niece!).

Do you recommend a photo processor?... Do I need to have a darkroom?... Do you produce your own prints or send them out?

If you’re using film, we recommend finding a local source for processing if you can. You made need to test a few places to find the quality you want. Interestingly, quite a few of our students have had good results with Wal Mart, Sam’s Club, and Costco, so be sure to put them on your “try-out” list!

You will also find many excellent national professional labs listed in the Resource Guide on the Member-Only web site included with your course. These labs also produce a variety of interesting products — from books to canvas prints — that can be used for your “backend sales.”

If you’re digital, you have the choice of sending your photos out or doing them “in house.” This, of course, is a huge topic, which we cover thoroughly in the Not Your Normal Photography course, including the exact inks, papers, and printers we use, why we use them, and the client’s reaction to them.

Obviously, there are a lot of little details you’ll need to know if you go the digital printing route, and you’ll find a lot on this, including my “secret” method for creating canvas prints, and much more, the Member-Only web site included with your course.

But while we’re on the subject, I do want to go over something important.

It’s sort of a “good news,” “bad news” thing...

The good news is, the prints we make “in house” are the best I’ve ever seen. It’s like a dream come true. Sure, it took a lot of time and money to find just the right combination of methods and materials (again this is detailed Your Normal Photography course), but wow!...I’m really happy with the results!

By the way, you’ll get sample prints with your course, so you can see exactly what I’m talking about. I get loads of comments about how great the print looks, and when you get your course, you’ll know exactly how we did it!

Just a “side note,” here... as I’m sure you know, there’s a ton of information on digital and digital printing on the internet. You’ll find techniques scattered all over the place and a lot of conflicting ideas. It gets to the point where you don’t know what’s right or best, or how to combine all those scattered techniques into a system that produces a client-pleasing (and photographer-pleasing!) result.

When you get your course, there will be sample prints included. One look at it, and I’m sure you’ll agree Pam and I have the “digital thing” nailed down “stone cold” from capture to printing. And all you’ll need to do to achieve the same result is to follow the path we’ve clearly laid out for you!

OK, the bad news on “in house” printing, is that it takes more time than simply sending the files out, or dropping some film off at the lab. And, of course, there’s the capital investment required to buy the equipment needed to be your own “photo processor.”

So that’s a real consideration, especially when you’re just starting out. In many cases, it’s better to just send it out. And cheaper, unless you have the right equipment, know which supplies to use, and where to get them!

Some printers, for example, cost 4-5X more to operate than others.

Likewise, some supplies regularly sell for almost double what we can get them for from our recommended suppliers!

This may not be a big deal if you’re just making a few prints, but if you run say, 10,000 prints in a month or two like Pam and I sometimes do, it really adds up (like the difference between paying 20¢ a print and $1 a print adds up to $8,000!...yep, Pam and I paid for our new $3,000 printer in about 3 weeks!).

Now, before you run out and buy a printer made for volume, you’ll want to be aware of the “dirty little secret” no one talks about (I had to “squeeze” this out of a manufacture’s rep) because ignoring this one factor will cause you to actually spend more from your prints instead of saving 75% or more. Again, this is where it really pays to get “battle tested” information like we give you in the Not Your Normal Photography Course!

How long have you been doing this / why are you doing this? / if your photography business is so profitable why are you selling photo courses?

Pam started taking pictures professionally in 1983 while we were living in a suburb of Chicago. She worked part time — out of our basement — while working full-time at TWA.

In 1991, we moved to North Carolina, and in 1992, Pam quit TWA and went full-time into photography under the trade name of “Not Your Normal photography®.”

Meanwhile, while we were in the Chicago area, I owned and operated a design typography studio right in the heart of the graphics community near downtown Chicago.

My clients included many “big name” companies — Quaker Oats, World Book, Time Life, City of Chicago, The National Association of Realtors, First National Bank of Chicago, and more, plus hundreds of small businesses, too.

I’ve literally worked on thousands of brochures, ads, newsletters, magazines, billboards, annual reports — nearly everything in business that gets printed.

After selling that business, and moving to North Carolina, I’ve concentrated more on marketing consulting, graphic design, and writing. I’ve also produced and published a couple dozen books in addition to my work as a consultant to publishers and authors.

The “idea” for the school of photography was born in the spring of 1997 and in January of 1998 we began offering our professional photography courses. The courses were an immediate “hit,” and since then, we have continued to help our course members and are delighted by the many great compliments we get on our course materials and the success stories we hear.

As it turned out, combining Pam’s photography experience and my marketing and publishing experience was a great way for Pam and me to work together, have some fun, make some extra money, and interact with photographers worldwide (we’ve had students in Switzerland, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, on aircraft carriers and much more!).

Now, here it is, quite a few years later, and we have continued to update and improve our courses. The Internet is allowing us to greatly expand what we offer you (you’ll get access to our member-only website with your course).

Pam, by the way, still does photo sessions. She doesn’t do them all the time, in fact, sometimes she goes for fairly long periods of time without doing them. But she has no intention of giving them up — no matter how much money we make doing other things — because the photography is just too much fun and personally rewarding (besides being profitable!).

As I write this, plans are being made — gulp — to build a “real” studio out here at The Farrm. We have enough property for it, and after all these years of photographing in our dining room, in her clients homes, and in various types of rented facilities, I think Pam deserves a place all her own, and just for her photography (ok, I might sneek in a gallery for my fine art work if she lets me!).

Now, for the people who ask us, “If Pam’s business is so great and profitable, why are your selling photography courses”...

I would hope that after reading our “story” the answer to this would be clear. But in case it’s not, Pam and I started the school because the combination of my writing, publishing, and marketing abilities — along with Pam’s unique and highly successful photography techniques and concepts — presented us with a great opportunity to help a lot of people and make some money doing it.

Which is exactly what we did, and what we are still doing. And in the future, we will continue to add projects to our lives that are both personally and financially rewarding as both the Not Your Normal School of Photography and Pam’s photography businesses are now.

So, that’s our “story in a nutshell.”

How long will it take me to get started, go through the course, and/or do I have to send in “homework”?...

First of all, our courses are not like “High School” where you have to go through a structured learning process and send in “homework.” I think most of us are a little beyond that.

Personally I don’t like things dribbled out to me, either (especially when I want to get going on something now!!!), and I don’t think that’s an efficient way to learn, anyway.

That’s why everything in the Not Your Normal Photography course is there for you on day 1. You can go at your own pace, and implement as you need it.

Exactly how long that will take is up to you. We’ve had people get off to a very fast start (one person had 43 sessions booked 2½ months after receiving his course, and prior to that, he never used a camera before! That, of course, isn’t typical, but it shows you one end of the success “spectrum.”).

On the other hand, we’ve had people take their time and some people end up never really doing anything. We’ve even had people start, get distracted, and then come back to it many months, and sometimes years, later.

Bottom line is, there’s no right or wrong here. My recommendation is to go at a pace that’s comfortable and fun for you. This should be an enjoyable adventure, not a fire drill!

With that said, you can get through the course materials fairly quickly. And you really don’t have to go through everything to get started. You can simply pull out what you need to get going now, and then continue the learning and building process from there!

The one thing I can’t emphasize enough, however, is this — don’t wait until everything is “perfect,” and don’t wait until the time is “right” to get started becuase it will probably never be “right and perfect.” Just get started. Do what you can do now with the resources you currently have available to you (and as you’ll see from the course, you don’t need much to get started!).

Can I come out and visit you, maybe hang around and watch Pam do a session or two?

This is one of those questions I shouldn’t have to answer, but we get asked more often than you might think. And the answer is, sure, if you want to take up my time and/or have hands-on instruction, and you have lots of extra money to burn, by all means, give me a call. Pam and I will be happy to meet with you. It will be a very expensive day for you, but Pam and I will try to pack in as much value as we can.

Is there anyone already doing this in my area?

If we were overly worried about competition, we wouldn’t even be selling this course. Pam and I have, in fact, sold this course to someone in a nearby town where Pam even has some existing clients. The purchaser of the course knows that, and of course we know that, and neither of us cares. Here’s why...

The market for this type of people and pet photography is enormous and each photographer can easily build and dominate their own niche. I talk about this extensively in the Supercharged Marketing Manual, but here’s the key point — while Pam’s Photo Course will allow you to copy what she does, ultimately, your own talent, your own view of the world, and your own personal taste, will affect what you do. And that’s a good thing because you’ll attract a clientele that wants you, is comfortable and loyal to you, and even Pam won’t be able to take them away from you!

Now, it’s easy to be paranoid, and I’ll admit I initially had some concerns about creating formidable competitors close to our home base. I even had some concerns about giving our information to anyone. But consider this — we’re doing fine, in a county of about 70,000 people. Plus, we have a few clients who drive as far as 125 miles one-way (the “record” is a family who came to us in North Carolina all the way from Florida!) to have a photo session with Pam, and that kind of range opens up more possibilities than I would ever want to pursue in 10 lifetimes.

Chances are, you have access to a market that’s at least as big as ours, and probably much larger. I doubt you’ll have any trouble carving out a nice living no matter how many people in your area buy our course!

Can I call someone who is doing this?

As far as contacting our course members — as it is for nearly all reputable businesses — it is against our stated, legal, privacy policy to release the contact information of our students to third parties. As I’m sure you’re aware, privacy is a big issue, especially online, and Pam and I intend to live up to our stated policies and promises.

And while we have had members actually offer to take calls, that gets disruptive for them. They’re concentrating on running their own businesses and shouldn’t have to mess with taking calls on our behalf (we had an incident where this happened, and although our student said he didn’t mind, it did get to be a little much after a while, so please, do respect people’s privacy!).

If you want to read what some of our students are saying about us, you can read their comments here.

With that said, I can appreciate some people’s concerns about Pam and me and our courses. There are a lot of outright scams out there and a lot of stuff that isn’t worth a fraction of what you pay for it.

This is why Pam and I have made available the comments of some of our students who were nice enough to contact us and give us permission to use their words of wisdom. It’s also why Pam and I maintain our membership with the local Chamber of Commerce and accreditation with the Better Business Bureau. And it’s why we offer an unconditional 90-day money back guarantee (less shipping costs).

You should also know that Pam and I have also spawned a little bit of a copy cat industry of people who have “borrowed” our headlines, like “The Secret Of Making...” and some of the ideas we present.

A few are even former students of ours or have seen me featured at a marketing seminar and figure that selling photo courses is the path to easy money. It’s not, and most of them disappear quickly. You see, creating engaging materials and teaching and effectively is not an easy or casual task and superficial attempts just don’t get the job done, nor do they stay fresh and updated with new innovative ideas like we bring to you via our newsletter and members only web site!

How much money do I need for marketing and/or other expenses?

Not much, if any — there are plenty of ways to get started with little or no money. If you needed lots of money to get started, Pam and I wouldn’t be in business now!

So, rest assured that lack of money is not a barrier to success in this business and Pam and I will help you find ways to get going even if money is tight.

And if you do have a lot of cash, I would still advise you to keep your business “lean.” Building your business by being creative and efficient will make it all that much stronger and profitable when the money does come rolling in.

What kind of lights does Pam use?...Isn’t studio lighting hard to set up?...can I get started without lights?

OK, first let me say that there are many combinations of equipment you can use. Pam used the Speedotron Brown Line for a long time becuase, at the time we bought them, we were living in Chicago, that’s where the company is located, and it seemed like a good system at a decent price.

The old lights served us well and still work, but Pam has replaced them with lights from the NYN Photo Store which are easier to use and more adjustable.

We go over equipment issues, including lighting, thoroughly in the full Not Your Normal Photography® course, so I’m not going to get into it here. What’s important to know now, is that none of it needs to be very expensive, although you can end up spending a small fortune if you don’t know exactly what you need and where to get it (loading up on unnecessarily expensive, or inappropriate equipment, by the way, is a big reason for failure in this business!).

You’ll find that setting up and using studio lighting (at least the way we do it), is extremely easy. And there is no reason to do anything more difficult. The pictures Pam produces with this set up look great, and the clients love them!

Above all, keep this in mind — equipment is the least important part of the business equation, so please don’t get hung up on this!!! It’s the posing and knowing when to “push the button” that counts!

If you’re “equipment poor,” you can even skip the studio lights, and use the posing outdoors. We have some course members who only do outdoor photography, so you may already have everything you need to get started.

Or you can rent them. We have at least one course member who bunches sessions up on the weekends and rents all the lights she needs for $35!

What are the dimensions of the space needed for the photo sessions?

You really don’t need a lot of space. For a long time, Pam photographed in a small room she rented. In fact, the room was so small she had to shoot through the door while she was standing in the hallway!

In a similar feat of make-it-work ingenuity, one of our students told us he shoots into a spare bedroom from inside a bathroom.

Then there was Pam’s very first studio — our basement — with 7 foot ceilings and a big pole in the middle that she had to shoot around.

Not ideal situations, of course, but workable. And the real answer to the question isn’t what you need, but how can you make what you have workable, and there are many ways to do that (yes, we discuss this in the course!).

Special note — when you become a course member, Pam and I can help you with equipment decisions, including lighting. Getting set up really is simple once you know how to do it!

Do I get a diploma?

Yes, we have a certificate available! When one of our students who is in the military needed a certificate to help him get a promotion, so Pam and I created one, and we now make it available to all students who complete the course! It’s very nice looking, ready to frame and it’s been a big “hit” with our students.

Are there questions we haven’t answered?

Send us an e-mail with your questions!

Ready to get started?

Enroll now in the Not Your Normal School of Photography using our secure online enrollment form!