12 : Terri Cage – Texas horse country and equine portraits – PODCAST

Terri Cage is a portrait and equine photographer specializing in senior portraits, show promotion photography, and farm family portraits with animals. Please join us to listen as she explains her business and her life with horses. SHOW NOTES Website: http://www.terricage-photography.com Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TerriCagePhotography/ Horse crazy kid at 10 years old for my first horse. Her dad got her a camera and he was a photographer actually. She did some barrel racing as she got a little older. As she had children, then now are showing. Started photography business in 2009. Uses studio sometimes for some portraits, dogs, to promote and for selection sessions. Main clientele is horse people. She does weddings from time to time. Shows 5% (networking through the shows with a booth showing portrait work) Majority of work is seniors and promotion for shows, some studio, some lifestyle, but a lot of images for client horse or rider western show promotion. Equine Chronicle and others. The magazines are mailed free to all carded judges and they are free at the shows. Gigi looks at her website and comments about how beautiful it is. Temp was 105 degrees at time of interview and is planning some mini session in studio. The studio is only 8 months old. Plans to stick it out for a year or two to see how it turns out. She sees the studio as promotional also. She also has a retail storefront with framed art work, canvases, boxes and cups etc. Marketing – Advertising – Networking Marketing – What else do you do besides Facebook Page. She mails out some postcards several times per year. Sends to farms and sends to seniors in the area. They are small mailings of 200 to 400 at a time. Spends about a day a week on Facebook and schedules posts, but with Instagram you have to actual do it when you want it to post. Instasize App for sizing photos for Instagram. Shoots some dressage shows which have many different breeds represented. Took a workshop with Scott Trees for Arabians, to learn the breed better. Makes sure that whatever she sends out is appropriate for the breeds represented. Does some marketing through Instagram and this is where the kids are. You have to be there. With Instagram, you will be seen. It’s not that way any more on Facebook. Hashtags not like “senior portraits” because teens will not be looking for that. When I go to someone’s ranch, usually will be there for several hours to provide a variety of images for promotion. Pricing is discussed depending on if she is visiting a stable with 3-4 riders at one session time. Sells Facebook images, high res files for the promotional ads, and various other prints. Grand parents still want wallets. Age 14-18 competitive riders. Spring amateurs, fall stallion promotions. Sometimes travels long distances and stays in guest house or client pays hotel fees. Works with trainers in the ad development. “We have 4 people to do”. For these I have to please the trainer more than I have to please the client. The difficulty of draught and increased costs affects the small horse people. For a while, we were paying 3X for hay. Focus on Niche’ is important Keep a focus on equine to reach these clients. Most of her work is niche’ equine and sometimes she gets other work, but many of those jobs come through people who know her through her equine work. My senior work started with horses. Now I have all kinds of seniors… motorcycles, not just horses now. Big family portraits in fall for Christmas… that̵...