Empower Your Seniors!

If I have learned anything over the past five years from creating a senior market, and as a human being, it is this: Put the happiness, value and integrity of the person in front of your camera ahead of everything else, without reservation. That means the whole world gets put aside when you are in a session or meeting a prospective client. I know, it sounds cliché. I used to think that myself. But the longer I am on this earth the more I see us as ambassadors of goodwill, artisans who have the unique opportunity to build self-esteem, transform self-image and empower the young people that come to us.

Sure, seniors come seeking outstanding images of themselves at that wonderful, golden age of 17. But what do the images represent to them? What are they really looking for? In my mind, the answer is imagery that represents their value as people, their hidden beauty and worth in this world. With the advent of digital cameras that afford many “picture takers” the ability to create pretty decent images, it is more important than ever for photographers to assume the role as nurturers of the spirit in these young people’s lives. Clearly, we have to step up with proper lighting, posing and interesting use of backdrops—that goes without saying. But if we can endow our images with emotional attachment and make the experience with us an empowering one, the captures become priceless.

I live on Cape Breton Island, a very beautiful, but economically depressed area of eastern Canada. Don’t talk to me about unemployment; I have lived and prospered beyond my dreams in an area of the country, which currently has a 20 percent unemployment rate, and that is up from where it was when I started! It’s terribly sad, but it also means 80 percent of people are working, which is by far the majority. And trust me, I am not being patronizing, I live this; I have to.

Having said that, do I ever get down? Sure I do. Just recently, with all the bad news about the economy hitting the newsstands and televisions, I became fearful and insecure. And guess what happened? My sales changed as well. Just part of economics? I don’t think so because as soon as I shut off the news, skipped the economic headlines, attended WPPI and began talking to my coach Andre Amyot of PhotoCoach International and positive people like my friend Joe Photo, things changed again. My sales went back up. I had renewed energy, a mountain of great ideas again and was able to go back to what I do best: empowering people, creating stunning imagery and making sales.

Notice the order in which these items were listed. First, we empower those around us. Mother Teresa, one of my favorite modern day champions of the human spirit, was said to have an uncanny ability to make whomever she was speaking with feel like the most important person in the world.

Not that I am comparing myself to Mother Teresa, but that had an effect on me. It’s a daily decision, and sometimes with the stress of what any given day can bring, it is one that you must renew many times over. When I do fail, I try not to beat myself up too much, but instead, reflect and hopefully learn something for the following day. When you really make the effort to care about high school seniors (or anyone for that matter) and find out what is important to them, you will feel a rush of creativity well up inside you. Afterward, listen to what the inner voice is saying to you and respond to it. Your images will always speak about the person then, and not about you.

The last thing on the list is making the great sale. When there is an emotional investment in what clients are seeing, the financial investment will follow. Keep in mind that you should have a creative product line and price list to offer. I have found that storyboards, or any type of creative collage of senior images, are easy to sell, as are bigger ticket items like senior albums and wall portraits. I have not had much success with packages, and seem to do better à la carte. My average sale is consistently over $1000. And remember, I live in one of the most depressed areas of Canada where the average income is much lower than the national average.

Personally I have trained and challenged myself to find the beauty in everyone. Everyone has something worth acknowledging and it is up to me to find it. This is where the relationship enters into the equation. This is where I try to find at least one thing special about that person, whether it is their eyes, a smile, a glance, the way they dress, even a bad attitude if that is what they come in with. And I build on that.

So many young people are very insecure, but if you look at the incredible power of mediums such as Facebook and MySpace, it is easy to tell that they just want to be acknowledged, respected and even admired. I believe it’s an opportunity for us as artists to acknowledge them—especially those who are not a size 3, do not have an hourglass figure or are outside the popular cliques at school. We have the opportunity to make someone who was never acknowledged as pretty feel pretty—a young man who was never referred to as cool feel cool. To take the size-11 girl, who was made fun of throughout her life and draw the femininity out of her and give her a sense of self-worth that no psychologist or social worker will be able to is immensely gratifying.

To reveal the value of a person we have to welcome them with interest. Ask questions. When I started out five years ago in senior photography I had no idea how to relate to teens. As a Canadian, my country doesn’t have a senior market. Last August I wrote an article for Rangefinder titled “Taking the Gray Out of Seniors’ Hair,” explaining how I was able to follow the lead of some great American photographers and create a senior market in northern Canada, where most people said it couldn’t be done. As I reflect on what made this a success for me, I realize the process was two-fold: Persistence was one element, per my article last year. And this year’s driving force? Interaction.

I simply began by asking questions of my clients—starting with their plans for next year. They all have something to say on that topic, and I will often relate my journey in photography to them—my successes as well as my failures. I become vulnerable to them and they respond to this by opening up.

With the girls I talk about sappy movies, or anything in the cinema. You can tell so much about a person by the type of movies they enjoy. Talking with the guys can require a bit more work. An interest in the arts all my life has been fine when it comes to chatting with like-minded individuals, but many guys come in guarded and reserved, often forced there by their mothers. So what did I do? I started watching the sports highlights each morning before work instead of the news. Canadians are crazy about hockey the way Americans are crazy about football. I got to know the teams, the players and the rivalries, enough for me to carry on a conversation and sound like I know what I am talking about, so long as I am asking the questions! Eventually I took an interest in sports and found that I love basketball the most. Now I am even a Toronto Raptors fan and I can build a rapport with the guys, which immediately takes their guard down. Again, not to generalize too much, many guys don’t watch sports at all. But, by simply being an observer of pop culture, it is now easy to talk to young people.

In actuality, I have had many kids come back later, thanking me for what their experience in our studio has done for them. One in particular comes to mind. I have known Catrina, a beautiful little girl who loved to dance, for many years. I hadn’t seen her in quite some time when she spotted me one day in the supermarket and said hello. She looked like a skeleton. Catrina was clearly suffering from an eating disorder and had dropped down to 80 pounds.

I was heartbroken. I couldn’t imagine the pain she must have been going through to let her body be destroyed like that. We had once been close, so thereafter I made lots of efforts to see her and encourage her to get well. Later that year, after she had regained her weight, we did another photo shoot, and of course the images were beautiful, as she is.

Catrina wrote a letter to me months later, which arrived on a difficult day for me at the studio—one of those days where I needed a boost. It brought a tear to my eye. She wrote, “Your pictures on ratchfordphotographic.com are beautiful, as always—you see straight into the individual you are photographing. Most people can’t take the time to see beyond the everyday surface we present when bustling by. Your presence in this world is more valuable than I can even tell you. I guess I’m trying to say that you know my story—you know my struggle with the outside. Thanks for seeing beyond the layers and into me. I’m also trying to say I think a lot of other people would like to say the same thing in better words. I’m speaking for all of us.”

It was no doubt one of those letters that goes straight to the heart. I wish you a similar reward from getting to know your senior clients. I know my experience with them has changed me—I have found the senior in me at age 40, and I didn’t have to turn gray to do it!

John Ratchford operates Ratchford Photographic Studio in North Sydney N.S. The studio specializes in senior, wedding, prenatal, and all types of family and children imagery. Employing eight people, he is the author of the soon-to-be-released Essence of Life, a book showcasing his best prenatal and newborn photography. To view more of his work you can visit his website, www.ratchfordphotographic.com.