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📰 Today's top stories, curated for you by Zorz Studios: http://zorz.it/newspaper

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Shoott Connects Photographers and Clients, Promises $100/Hr Minimums

A new photography start-up Shoott has created an online platform where clients can quickly find available, vetted photographers for brief 30-minute photoshoots and promises the shooter a $100 per hour guaranteed minimum rate.

The new company provides on-demand professional photography service in the shape of "Insta-worthy" 30-minute outdoor photo sessions that are free for clients to book and gives customers the choice to pay only for photos that they want to keep, starting with $15 per image or less if purchased in a package of ten or more images or if purchased as a full gallery. With a core mission of making professional photography more affordable and accessible, the company says that it also wants to empower local professional photographers.

Shoott claims that it understands the difficulties of unreliable gig work -- thanks to a team comprised of photographers, actors, designers, writers, directors, and other freelance artists -- and wants to provide a more steady influx of jobs for photographers that would allow them to book multiple sessions in the same location to help generate a steady paycheck. The company also takes away the less desirable business aspects of photography -- marketing, sales, and customer service -- to allow shooters to fill their extra time with Shoott gigs, instead.

To guarantee a $100 minimum hourly rate for photographers, the company maintains a rigorous hiring process and only accepts photographers that pass certain criteria. It includes professional equipment, a solid portfolio, especially one that shows family and wedding photography, experience in composing and posing, a creative eye and expertise to work well with natural light, skills to confidently lead a shoot, and the ability to adhere to Shoott policies.

The company claims it accepts only the top 5-percent of photographers who apply, and its shooters have an average of $150 and above hourly earnings, an average tip size of $18, and offers a 60-percent commission on net sales. The company also works around the availability of each photographer and sends them as many clients as they can handle in one single convenient location.

The vetting process sounds similar to Feast It, though does not sound quite as rigorous as the "only one in 10" photographers accepted that the United Kingdom-based company claims.

Currently, Shoott offers different types of portraiture options to prospective clients, including but not limited to lifestyle, family, newborns, maternity, engagements, fitness, business and acting headshots, model portfolios, and more. Clients are given a gallery of lightly retouched images that they can pick from to purchase. For an additional cost to clients, the company also offers professional retouching and other services, such as custom shoots.

To fill a niche demand for better travel photos instead of basic phone selfies, a similar business model was created by the app SnapMob, which [offers tourists to hire a nearby photographer for a quick photo shoot](https://petapixel.com/2021/04/02/to-kill-the-selfie-stick-snapmob-connects-photogs-to-clients-in-real-time/#disqus_thread). Although this company hasn't implemented a strict vetting process -- and allows anyone to be a paid photographer with a smartphone or a camera -- it claims to connect clients and photographers in real-time without the hassle of scheduling, phone calls, and expensive or time-consuming shoots.

At the moment, Shoott clients can book sessions in numerous locations across the United States and Canada, but the company also plans to expand internationally into Europe and Australia in the near future.

Image credits: All images provided by Shoott and used with permission.

#industry #news #app #business #clients #photoclients #photographybusiness #photographyclients #shoott #startup

Zenfolio Launches New Website System and a Client Management Suite

Photography portfolio builder Zenfolio has launched "BookMe", an all-encompassing client management suite to automate payments and bookings which joins the company's new Portfolio offering that makes building a modern website easier.

Zenfolio has been the website builder of choice for many photographers as its products are focused on enhancing photography portfolio showcase, image and print sales, and more, all in one place.

The company has announced the launch of its latest product, "BookMe," a customizable client system that gives seamless integration of automated business tools, alongside the recent release of a new website builder system, "Portfolio" and "PortfolioPlus."

Portfolio, which the company started rolling out last month, comes as a new direction for Zenfolio. It's a wholly redesigned platform that is built on a brand new, separate codebase than what the company has been using for years. Jumping to a new codebase usually means leaving behind the old stuff, and while that's true here, Zenfolio tells PetaPixel it intends to provide ongoing support for the Classic products that the majority of its users subscribe to.

The new distinction takes the Classic system and separates it into newly-named Pro and Advanced plans, and targets the two towards studios and advanced professional photographers who require a higher degree of customization, such as in the shape of HTML custom code, and have larger demands for sales.

The new Portfolio and PortfolioPlus platform plans, on the other hand, are currently targeted towards part-time and professional photographers with a focus on ease of use while still retaining a degree of customization as well as certain new features, such as social integration and facial filter and image search for shareable galleries. Over time, Zenfolio will bolster the options available in the Portfolio plans to make them comparable or even more advanced than what is offered in the Classic system.

Zenfolio explains that current users subscribed to Classic products don't need to change their workflow, projects, or the current website because the support will continue unless they choose to subscribe to a new plan that suits their business better, especially as Portfolio and PortfolioPlus tiers are expected to have more features and add-ons rolled out every two weeks, with additional plans, too.

Circling back, the new BookMe client management system is available to both Classic and Portfolio users and brings booking and payment solutions for photographers to automate client bookings all in one platform. These features can also be seamlessly integrated within the Zenfolio website so clients can book instantly without leaving the photographer's page.

BookMe introduces client booking management as well as Google calendar syncing to show business owners' availability in real-time, including a set buffer time in between client meetings and shoots to ensure photographers are able to arrive on time, and a specification of the number of shoots available per day for better time management.

It also features personalized shoot packages with custom pricing, mini-sessions which can be booked in with as few as five-minute increments to maximize time and profit, and multiple photoshoot location that clients can pick from.

For business banking and accounting, it offers to collect prepayments and payments using smart invoicing features and a secure online platform. It also features offline payment collection.

BookMe has been launched today and a detailed breakdown of each pricing plan can be found on Zenfolio's website, where users can compare which plan suits their business needs best.

#news #websites #clientmanagement #crm #photoclients #photographyclients #portfoliowebsite #website #websitebuilder #zenfolio

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