“High school wasn’t meant to last forever. It’s our last chance for us to shine.” So go the lyrics from the song “Last Chance” in High School Musical 3–words that photographer Monica Saulmon takes to heart with every senior session.

“This is a big milestone for them, especially for the girls,” says Saulmon, owner of Icon Portrait Studio in Thousand Oaks, CA. “I think it doesn’t matter how beautiful they are, they all deal with self-esteem issues, so I want them to feel really good about themselves when I’m done.”

Many girls do not realize how beautiful they really are and Saulmon takes pride in showing them. She considers it a job well done when these “beautiful flowers,” as she calls them, come in to see their pictures and comment on how pretty she made them look.

Making senior clients feel special pays off for this studio of 10 years by building ties that bind with area families. Fostering personal relationships with clients generates repeat business in a world where photography can be viewed as a low-priced commodity. “When you work as a relationship photographer and give great customer service, people understand why they pay more and become loyal to you,” she explains, adding that her baby customers often become her senior clients years later because of the lasting ties she forms.

Dare to be Different
Icon Portrait Studio lives by the words, “Dare to be different.” In an area overflowing with contract photographers, hired by schools to take yearbook photos, then grabbing the lion’s share of senior work, photographers outside the contract realm need to present cutting-edge, iconic work. Saulmon sets herself apart with an artistic, fashion-forward look that draws seniors to her. The unique look of Icon senior images comes from blending classic lighting techniques, achieved with a 4 x 6-foot and 3 x 4-foot softbox lighting, with edgy colors and interesting processing styles.

While Icon’s creativity sets the studio apart from competitors, the heavy lifting begins with marketing. The first quarter of every year marks the beginning of an aggressive marketing campaign that, coupled with the use of actual senior models and a strong Web presence, is essential to Saulmon’s business. Many parents believe they are stuck with whatever studio the school hires. Saulmon’s mission is, in part, to re-educate parents and help them realize that they can still exercise other options.

Sometimes this process is as simple as explaining the advantages of her studio over a larger, contract studio. A studio photographing hundreds of seniors may not be equipped to put forth the quality of work parents desire and their teens deserve. “When you are pushing so many girls and boys through in a day, I don’t think that’s possible,” she says. “It’s a constant battle to educate parents, and I’m still fighting that.”

Making Friends
Putting customer service at the forefront, Icon meets with every senior client before their session to put teens, parents and Saulmon on the same page. Talking to the teens in this way builds trust that comes in handy later on. “When they come in for a photo shoot, it’s amazing the relationship you’ve already built,” she explains. “They greet me like we’re old friends, which is necessary to getting great natural shots.”

Saulmon takes this same approach toward one of the more creative marketing aspects of her business—using actual seniors as models. Every spring Icon mails personalized letters to high school seniors from a purchased list. This letter also makes a “casting call” of sorts for hard-working and personable senior models. When prospective models call her, Saulmon invites them to the studio to discuss the program.

These meetings take approximately 15 minutes, where instead of talking shop, Saulmon talks about them. She asks these teens, typically teenage girls, what’s going on in school, what kind of music they like, what sports they play; anything to get them talking. Then she answers their questions as well as any questions their parents may have about the program.

These informal gatherings put parents at ease. “I have two teenagers of my own, so I can definitely understand their concerns,” she says. When parents meet her and understand the program, it helps gain their trust.

Saulmon admits she usually accepts every girl she talks to, (the enthusiasm girls have for being photographed often makes them better reps), and these teens receive their images at a reduced rate as well as senior rep cards to share with friends. Saulmon photographs models by March or April to give them time to market her work before the school year ends.

Keeping an Edge on Edgy
Though Icon’s business is comprised of 50 percent babies, 25 percent families and 25 percent seniors, Saulmon says working with seniors is one of her true loves. “Seniors really let me push the limits,” she explains. “With family portraits, clients often want a traditional look and style, which can be boring. But with teens I can push the shoot any way I want to and they are open to it.”

With today’s teen being a more discerning photography customer, senior photographers must maintain a current style that kids gravitate to. Inspiration for Saulmon’s art comes from everywhere—her fashion design education, TV shows, movies, advertising and art. A good photographer, she says, trains a vigilant eye on these sources of inspiration to keep the look fresh. “I can be shopping somewhere and look at the displays and get an idea,” she says. “I think, ‘There’s something I can do. How can I fit it into my own work?’ ”

Saulmon also stresses the vital importance of on-location shooting for teens, and adds these locations must be as varied as the teens themselves. It would be very easy to take teens to the same locations over and over, but over time, the work would lose its creative edge.

Traveling to new locations that reflect each senior’s uniqueness keeps Saulmon inspired. Early meetings cover various locations she wants to use while she also asks for guidance from teens and their parents. Sometimes their suggestions present an option she never would have thought of or had access to. A parent once suggested taking his teen to the hangar where he worked, and letting her photograph the youth with airplanes as the backdrop. The venue gave the session a unique perspective she might not have been able to achieve otherwise.

Market Savvy
But an edgy look from two or three locations does not translate into sales without a little marketing savvy. Icon’s sales effort begins two weeks after the session when clients return to view their images in a slide show. Many photographers choose to sell photos online or present images on tiny laptop screens, a fact she finds surprising. “I say go big,” she says. “When you show big, you sell big.”

Restricting the number of images shown also helps sales. She explains too few images disappoint and too many images confuse. For this reason, she presents approximately 50 images to senior clients. “You have to find that magic number,” she says, adding that it’s different for each type of session. For instance, she may show 30–40 images for babies but just 15–20 for families.

Icon also offers an equally unique product lineup that includes custom-designed coffee-table albums and fine art. Coffee- table albums are becoming extremely popular offerings as these books provide families a fitting place to show all of the wonderful images captured in a session. She also provides digital artwork but says this isn’t as big a seller as she would like. “There’s so much time involved in creating an image, that you have to charge a lot of money for it to be profitable,” she explains. Eventually she hopes to market this work as fine art.

Diversify Yourself
A tough economy has pushed many photographers out of business, but Icon still hasn’t felt the pinch. Saulmon explains this is largely because of the studio’s diversified clientele. Icon offers services for nearly every age group from newborns to seniors to families, and may soon add weddings.
While Saulmon photographs a few select weddings each year, she currently doesn’t seek out wedding work. But she’s believes it may be time to do so. “It’s important to diversify [in today’s troubled economy], so that you have other things to fall back on,” she explains.

However, because of her work with infants and small children, Saulmon says she hasn’t seen an appreciable drop in sales due to the recession. “People still feel the need to have their baby photographed, and that’s not going to change because of a poor economy,” she says.

Oh, Baby!
While some people might question how tiring it must be to work with babies all day long, day in and day out, Saulmon takes the challenges in stride. She finds them an absolute joy to work with. “Those moments are so precious and pass by so quickly,” she says. “I love being able to capture them.”
Icon receives a list of baby names every month and sends out personalized mailers to these families. Ultimately, she hopes to convince them to sign up for Icon’s baby plan, which includes sessions as newborns, then at three, six, nine and 12 months.

Because babies dictate the sessions, Saulmon says they normally last no more than 45 minutes, a stark contrast to the three hours spent on senior clients. She says newborns are great, but admits the sessions present challenges if the mother is not at ease. “I try to make mom really comfortable,” she says. “If mom is nervous about the baby being photographed, the baby picks up on that.”

In later months babies become aware of strangers and they are the ones who need coaxing. “Nine months can be difficult, but they still cannot move around well,” she says. “At 12 months, they don’t want to stay in one spot. You end up chasing them and pulling out different tricks to get their attention.”

She credits Sandy Puc’ for the tactics she uses. Saulmon pulls out Puc’s recommended rubber chicken that squawks on these tough shoots and says it grabs a baby’s attention every time. “I always thought I’m not going to have that ugly thing in my studio, but it really works,” she says.

Once babies graduate from Icon’s first-year program, parents can opt to participate in the Kids Club, which allows them to bring their children back three times in four years for a session. Once a child hits two, Saulmon begins taking them on location. “I take them to the park and just let them be,” she says. “There’s no way I can have a two-year-old sitting in the studio for even 20 minutes; all you’re going to get is frowning faces.” As a parent herself, Saulmon learned one critical thing: Childhood is fleeting and gone before parents realize it. She considers it an honor to share these precious moments from infancy to adulthood with the clients she considers friends. You can view her work at www.iconportrait.com.

Ronnie Garrett is a photographer and writer based out of Fort Atkinson, WI. She can be reached through her website at www.garrettncostudios.com or by email at [email protected].