Writing "About Me" sections are the WORST.

[pgriz]

I'd change from third person to first person. Get the conversation going with YOU.

 

[tirediron]

I'm Emily, a, professional photographer living and working in Nashville. I specialize in fashion, senior portrait photography and modern portraiture.

My goal is to provide my clients with a unique and enjoyable experience, whether on-location or in my studio. The experience starts with our pre-session consultation where we get to know each other, and I can get a sense of your tastes and style, allowing me to create images which showcase your unique personality. I work with a team of professionals including a hair and makeup artist for to make sure you look and feel your best!

I am totally committed to your satisfaction, and put all of my skill and experience into every session so that you get the beautiful images which will be the envy of your friends.

Let's get together and plan your portrait session!

• Email: [email here]
• Phone: 555-555-5555
• Contact Page [Click Here]
• Carrier Pigeon (Please allow 24 hours for response using this method. If no response is received within 24 hours, please try again using one of the other methods listed above.)

• I think it's important to strike a balance between being the person that your senior clients can relate to and the person their parents (who are probably paying for the session) can relate to. I don't really think your taste in music matters, in fact that could turn off someone who is a fan of Bach or Brahms because they will make assumptions about you based on your musical taste (WE know those assumptions are true, but they don't have to! ). I also think it helps to make a more personal connection by referring to yourself in the first-person. It's one thing if you're the head of a big company, but you're not (yet).

 

[e.rose]

I'm pretty much set on what I'm going to say. I just need grammatical things corrected, if there are any.

If my musical tastes and slight personality/humor things I've thrown out there turn people off to working with me, then they weren't my ideal client anyway.

I want to work with relaxed, laid-back and fun people. Not someone who is going to be turned off by the fact that I like Mute Math instead of Brahms.

My last "about me" page was worse. I listed TV shows like Family Guy and Archer and the like, haha. But every client I got was exactly the type of fun and laid back client I wanted. So they either read it and thought, "how fun!" or it was so long they didn't even bother to read it down that far anyway, hahaha.

 

[e.rose]

I will, however, take into consideration and sit on whether or not I want to flip it to first person vs. third person.

 

[snerd]

I just moved or removed a couple of commas, and added a "to" in front of discuss. If we can get Lenny to proof my proof, you're gold.

Emily Rose McGonigle is a photographer based in Nashville, TN, specializing in fashion senior portrait photography and modern portraiture.

She strives to provide her clients with a unique and fun experience, whether that be on-location or in the studio. In order to accomplish this, she will meet with you before your session to get to know you and to discuss the vision for your photo shoot. She also works with a team of professionals, including a hair and makeup artist for senior and modern portrait sessions, to make sure you look and feel your best!

Emily is a fun-loving individual with a love for music ranging from The Mars Volta, Mute Math, Colony House, James Bay and some Pop guilty pleasures as well.

She enjoys TV and movie comedies, well-written suspense stories and has a slight (read: major) addiction to social media.

If you'd like to meet with Emily about a session, feel free to contact her in one of the following ways:

Email: [email here]
Phone: 555-555-5555
Contact Page [Click Here]
Carrier Pigeon (Please allow 24 hours for response using this method. If no response is received within 24 hours, please try again using one of the other methods listed above.)

 

[e.rose]

I just moved or removed a couple of commas, and added a "to" in front of discuss. If we can get Lenny to proof my proof, you're gold.

Emily Rose McGonigle is a photographer based in Nashville, TN, specializing in fashion senior portrait photography and modern portraiture.

She strives to provide her clients with a unique and fun experience, whether that be on-location or in the studio. In order to accomplish this, she will meet with you before your session to get to know you and to discuss the vision for your photo shoot. She also works with a team of professionals, including a hair and makeup artist for senior and modern portrait sessions, to make sure you look and feel your best!

Emily is a fun-loving individual with a love for music ranging from The Mars Volta, Mute Math, Colony House, James Bay and some Pop guilty pleasures as well.

She enjoys TV and movie comedies, well-written suspense stories and has a slight (read: major) addiction to social media.

If you'd like to meet with Emily about a session, feel free to contact her in one of the following ways:

Email: [email here]
Phone: 555-555-5555
Contact Page [Click Here]
Carrier Pigeon (Please allow 24 hours for response using this method. If no response is received within 24 hours, please try again using one of the other methods listed above.)

Thanks!

 

[Ray Hines]

It looks ok to me, but I'd drop the reference to specific bands. I'm into a bit of rock music myself, and my son runs a music mag, and I've never heard of any of them. I'd stick with just using the term Rock Music, bands can go out of vogue very easily. What would your clients have thought if you'd had The Lost Prophets listed there? Good luck with it, I've tried and failed myself

 

[pgriz]

"About Me" is a marketing document. It needs to speak to the customers you want, and to scare off the customers you don't want. I think you've already said as much in the earlier posts. From the perspective of the customers who are hiring you (the parents of the people you photograph, first, and the people themselves a close second), they are looking for a professional who can deliver some interesting, attractive and (perhaps) edgy images that are not standard poses. It's probably important to them that you figure out their vision (or at least hopes) for the images. There may be some tension between what the parents and the people themselves will want to portray, which will need to be taken into account. Your portfolio already has a certain "look" to it, which they will see either on your web site or when you meet with them. So...

You're not exactly a newbie. You've been doing this for a while and have a portfolio to show for it. That should be mentioned in the first paragraph where you're setting the stage and giving your credentials. Key concerns are usually - do I even want to talk to this person? And the answer they should get is: Yes, she's local, she's experienced, and she's done this kind of stuff lots of times with very good results.

Mentioning the process you go through in the second paragraph is good, but I'd consider rewriting it a little to be more chronological. Because at this point, the buying decision is "How is she going to make this work for us?" Letting them visualize the process a little helps in letting them know that you know what you're doing.

Next question may be "But how will I know my daughter/son/spouse/etc. will really look their best?" and the answer may be to give them a sense of your personality and your approach to doing the shoots. This section should include stuff that would allow people to feel that you're "one of them", so that you'll "get" what they want without a lot of effort on their part.

And now the hook - what can you do that they can't get anywhere else. This is where testimonials from previous clients are really important, not necessarily for testimonial quotes, but for the things they say they enjoyed and appreciated the most from your sessions. Because those bennies (the positive experience) is the real product that you're selling. The pictures will be a confirmation of the positive experience.

Hope this isn't too long. Emily, your talent at shooting is obvious. Your prospective customers need to get that feeling as well.

 

[e.rose]

It looks ok to me, but I'd drop the reference to specific bands. I'm into a bit of rock music myself, and my son runs a music mag, and I've never heard of any of them. I'd stick with just using the term Rock Music, bands can go out of vogue very easily. What would your clients have thought if you'd had The Lost Prophets listed there? Good luck with it, I've tried and failed myself

I'm not worried about whether or not the bands I like are bands anyone has ever heard of, or if they're "in vogue". The Mars Volta isn't even a band anymore, Colony House is a band local to Nashville and one of my all-time favorite bands, Mute Math is not as mainstream as some other bands, but they have been on soundtracks and are more mainstream than some other bands I really like.

I wrote down some of the bands that I like, because that's part of who I am. Music plays a very large role in my life, and it's important to me, and helps showcase my personality. "Rock music" is too generalize. Am I talked about Nickelback, buttock? Led Zeppelin, classic rock? Menomena, indie rock?

I'm comfortable listing them out. I've had more bands listed out in my previous, way-to-long-to-get-through "about me page". This is simply a much more condensed version.

And for the record, I DID like Lost Prophets. In like high school. What happened with them is sh*tty, but I still listen to that album I have of theirs from time to time, because it doesn't change the fact that it was a huge part of my senior year of high school.

The bands I have listed aren't controversial in any way. If someone is refusing to book me based on the fact that they haven't heard of the bands I like, or because they don't like one of them... that's not my client, and therefore is not a loss for me.

I've also noticed that my idea senior client tends to have the same musical tastes as I do, so... even better for me.

I realize the parents are the ones paying for the service, but most of my clients have come from the *students* finding me either through their friends or a search and liking what I have to say, and how I work and photograph, and taking it back to their parents. Any of the *parents* that have found me before their kid, have come to me saying, "I think my kid would love to work with you because of XYZ", so they've always taken into consideration what their *kid* wants when booking me.

I *am* trying to find a nice balance here, but the fact of the matter is, I'm not worried about cutting off a certain demographic, if that's the case, because not everyone is my ideal client. I'm not aiming towards the masses. I'm aiming towards a specific type of person.

I don't want to work with the parents who are forcing their kid into something static or something they don't want to do. That's not fun for me, or the student. So if listing a few bands keeps the boring ones from contacting me... great. That's exactly what I want.

You're not exactly a newbie. You've been doing this for a while and have a portfolio to show for it. That should be mentioned in the first paragraph where you're setting the stage and giving your credentials.

I didn't give credentials because I don't have any. I never went to school for photography, never went to a workshop, never won an award, never apprenticed or studied with anyone personally... there's really nothing there to talk about. Maybe I might mention that I've been shooting for 5 years, but in some people's minds that's not even that long of a time, so I prefer to just avoid it all together. My portfolio speaks for itself. If they're concerned with whether or not I have a degree or how many years I've been shooting (because I know people who have been shooting for 20 years and are worse than I was in my first year... and I was pretty bad...), then they're not the person I want to book. They're in the same vein as the "price shoppers" as far as I'm concerned, haha.

Mentioning the process you go through in the second paragraph is good, but I'd consider rewriting it a little to be more chronological. Because at this point, the buying decision is "How is she going to make this work for us?" Letting them visualize the process a little helps in letting them know that you know what you're doing.

Next question may be "But how will I know my daughter/son/spouse/etc. will really look their best?" and the answer may be to give them a sense of your personality and your approach to doing the shoots. This section should include stuff that would allow people to feel that you're "one of them", so that you'll "get" what they want without a lot of effort on their part.

This is a very valid point... But it's SO extensively covered that it has it's own section on my site. I have "About Photographer", "About Senior Portraits", and "About Portraits" as all separate sections on my website (The last two need re-working and updating, so don't go bother peeking at those just yet because they will be changing. I just don't have enough time to rework the whole site all at once, so I'm doing it a bit at a time over the next week or so, haha).

But the long and the short of it is, yes, I go over my process, chronologically, in detail on the page specific to senior portraits.

I just want my "about me" page to be a small peek into my thought process.

And now the hook - what can you do that they can't get anywhere else. This is where testimonials from previous clients are really important, not necessarily for testimonial quotes, but for the things they say they enjoyed and appreciated the most from your sessions. Because those bennies (the positive experience) is the real product that you're selling. The pictures will be a confirmation of the positive experience.

Way ahead of you.

I have testimonials from clients that I need to upload to my site (which will also be it's own page), and I am about to send out surveys to my clients this past year as well.

Hope this isn't too long. Emily, your talent at shooting is obvious. Your prospective customers need to get that feeling as well.

Not too long, no. Sorry I broke it up the way I did. You just had a lot of good things to say that I wanted to address specifically.

Also thank you for the compliment.

 

[pgriz]

One of the keys of successful marketing and sales is to go back to those clients you've had who you consider to be your "ideal" market and really go through the buying decision with them, in terms of what attracted them to you, what concerns did they have, how did they overcome those concerns, what aspects were they pleasantly surprised about... etc. It's one thing to think you know why they chose you over others, it's another thing to go through their buying experience with them. Perhaps it will confirm what you already know. But it may also surprise you. I know when I go through this process myself, I'm often surprised at the little things (in my mind) that were really big things for them, and vise versa. This process of going back to your best and ideal customers and making sure you really understand their decision-making process is something that I think is key. I have a feeling that you're already doing that, but to me you can never do too much of this.

 

[Ray Hines]

Emily

If music is important to you then keep it in, and best of luck with the work.

Ray

 

[ronlane]

@e.rose, how come you don't answer the phone when I call you?? Also, I can't understand what you are saying on the voicemail. And why are you charging me $9.95 a minute?

 

[minicoop1985]

If it helps, take a look at my "About Me" section on my Zenfolio. It was written by an English teacher (my aunt) for me. Just whatever you do, make sure what you say really does represent you and your interests, particularly what you want to photograph.

 

[407370]

I just figured out that "senior portrait" is referring to school pupils and not old people.

Go Me.............. I will be speaking americanese soon

 

[Robin Usagani]

Let me write your about me. I am your stalker remember? I practically know everything about you.