ajax_andy

Sounds good mate. I'll have a word with the lads and see what they think... should be able to get enough to play over your way I reckon tho Could we pencil a game in for next week and i'll confirm by the end of this week?

haha i honestly know what you're saying here, but it really depends on how many people go on Ebay to look for a photographer. If it's not many then there will be no bidding war and one person will pick it up for 99p and minus the 9p charge ebay take i'll be doing it for 90p which probably woulnd't even cover my petrol costs I'm not saying its a bad idea either, just one I need to look in to in more detail. My mate works for the Chronicle and has already said he can get me in their Groupon style offer system if I want to get some quick business in, but at the moment I'm just looking to build up very slowly. I have a couple of commercial/pr shoots booked in for this weekend and October, and a engagement shoot in October too. I'm wary of getting in too much work too quickly, I'm only just starting out so things need to grow at a slow pace to begin with. Once I feel more comfortable with doing it as a business then thats when I need to look at pushing it more and using things like groupon, ebay and other offer sites, posting on wedding forums and getting my name and website out there for the world to see. Just want to take it one step at a time to begin with and let it grow organically My last word on this, I promise I sell all the time on ebay and have listed products that I want over £500 for starting at 99p. This is the whole principle of how auctions work. My way gets you one go, one customer. Groupon would be a nightmare if you are wanting to grow small. Stop thinking man and give it a go (I can guarantee that I will bid a lot more than 99p ) The economy needs action not thinkers!!!!! Haha I just googled "photography session newcastle" - zero hits. "photography newcastle" gave one hit and that was a wedding package at £350. I honestly dont think its the right medium to be pitching too... I dont know anyone who when looking for a photographer would go to ebay. If there are other sites like it that deal more with services than products then it'd be a great idea, but I'm struggling to see even one person bidding let alone enough to make it worth my time. I'd be better off standing on Northumberland Street handing out fliers with a good offer than advertising on Ebay I think. I like your idea, but I think it would need to be pitched via the correct medium. Honestly, my very last word. Go and have a look at ebay and see all the other people selling their services on Ebay. Around Newcastle alone there are 6 or 7 wedding car hire companies selling on ebay. Anyway, good luck with it. Haha I know what you're saying I honestly don't think enough people use ebay for this type of thing for the bid to get anything up to it being worth my time. I got married last year at not once did I think of using ebay to book any sort of service... and believe me I buy EVERYTHING off ebay lol (well except my bride, she came from a russian site... thats a joke btw) I'll do you a deal though, if I look in to it in more detail and decide to give it a go, I'll let you know and keep you updated on how it went.

haha i honestly know what you're saying here, but it really depends on how many people go on Ebay to look for a photographer. If it's not many then there will be no bidding war and one person will pick it up for 99p and minus the 9p charge ebay take i'll be doing it for 90p which probably woulnd't even cover my petrol costs I'm not saying its a bad idea either, just one I need to look in to in more detail. My mate works for the Chronicle and has already said he can get me in their Groupon style offer system if I want to get some quick business in, but at the moment I'm just looking to build up very slowly. I have a couple of commercial/pr shoots booked in for this weekend and October, and a engagement shoot in October too. I'm wary of getting in too much work too quickly, I'm only just starting out so things need to grow at a slow pace to begin with. Once I feel more comfortable with doing it as a business then thats when I need to look at pushing it more and using things like groupon, ebay and other offer sites, posting on wedding forums and getting my name and website out there for the world to see. Just want to take it one step at a time to begin with and let it grow organically My last word on this, I promise I sell all the time on ebay and have listed products that I want over £500 for starting at 99p. This is the whole principle of how auctions work. My way gets you one go, one customer. Groupon would be a nightmare if you are wanting to grow small. Stop thinking man and give it a go (I can guarantee that I will bid a lot more than 99p ) The economy needs action not thinkers!!!!! Haha I just googled "photography session newcastle" - zero hits. "photography newcastle" gave one hit and that was a wedding package at £350. I honestly dont think its the right medium to be pitching too... I dont know anyone who when looking for a photographer would go to ebay. If there are other sites like it that deal more with services than products then it'd be a great idea, but I'm struggling to see even one person bidding let alone enough to make it worth my time. I'd be better off standing on Northumberland Street handing out fliers with a good offer than advertising on Ebay I think. I like your idea, but I think it would need to be pitched via the correct medium.

At the moment I'm trying to avoid the almost hidden charges a lot of photographers do, like doing the shoot for free and then charging through the nose for the prints. My ethos to begin with is "this is what you pay for, and this is what you get"... obviously in the future if I manage to establish myself properly i'd have to be more ruthless about bringing in the money, but for now i want to be seen more as an honest photographer, than just another one who hides his charges (if that makes sense?)

haha i honestly know what you're saying here, but it really depends on how many people go on Ebay to look for a photographer. If it's not many then there will be no bidding war and one person will pick it up for 99p and minus the 9p charge ebay take i'll be doing it for 90p which probably woulnd't even cover my petrol costs I'm not saying its a bad idea either, just one I need to look in to in more detail. My mate works for the Chronicle and has already said he can get me in their Groupon style offer system if I want to get some quick business in, but at the moment I'm just looking to build up very slowly. I have a couple of commercial/pr shoots booked in for this weekend and October, and a engagement shoot in October too. I'm wary of getting in too much work too quickly, I'm only just starting out so things need to grow at a slow pace to begin with. Once I feel more comfortable with doing it as a business then thats when I need to look at pushing it more and using things like groupon, ebay and other offer sites, posting on wedding forums and getting my name and website out there for the world to see. Just want to take it one step at a time to begin with and let it grow organically

Where in gateshead do you play mate? Gateshead Leisure Centre I'll have a word with the lads and see if they fancy playing over there... they are creatures of habit so changing venues might be more than they can handle lol! Are you up for a game every week, or just a one off?

Where in gateshead do you play mate?

No worries mate, its to start asap really though tbh, but if I'm still looking in a few months (and still have access to the sports hall then) i'll give you a shout

Does anyone fancy putting together a 5-a-side team to play my team on Thursday nights every week 6-7pm at Newcastle College? The cost would be £2.50 per person. I have been organising 5-a-side for a few years but my numbers have dwindled badly and thought it might be good fun to play someone else's team instead every week. Please let me knwo if you are interested. We're not amazing and just take it in turns to go in goal, so its not a proper "team" as such, just a friendly kick about, but would be good to have a little competative element by playing someone elses team

Ahh ok I see what you mean, do it as a one off? I'll have a think about it, my wife is a marketing and PR manager so i'll run it past here and see what she thinks. The bottom line is all you have to lose is an hour or so of your time. True but it depends on how many people use Ebay to look for photographers... if not many its not going to lead to a bidding war, and then the shoot + a couple of hours of editing time + my travel costs would all be taken out of the 99p i'd get for doing it (minus ebay fees), so it might not really be worth it. It's a good suggestion though and one I need to look in to I think in a bit more detail

Thanks mate Nah not really in to the whole landscape thing, I wanted the site to really focus on people and people only. I know what you mean about places wanting pics of their facilities and grounds etc, I'm doing something for a cafe in Jesmond at the weekend, but tbh I dont really like doing the commercial aspect a great deal and so am not really pushing that angle... I probs can't be too choosy but it doesn't really float my boat. Well you never know you might fancy doing it one day for a living, I'll give you a shout if I ever need an assistant anyway. I have a wedding lined up for next year so far so i'll speak to you nearer the time to see if you fancy helping out.

Ahh ok I see what you mean, do it as a one off? I'll have a think about it, my wife is a marketing and PR manager so i'll run it past here and see what she thinks.

Yeah its a good idea, but at the moment I couldnt really cope with too many people booking me as its just something I do in my spare time at the moment. I think if I ever manage to quit the day job this kind of suggestion is great as its about getting the bookings in (any booking is better than none if it's paying the bills), and also the groupon thing is another possible avenue. At the moment I want to build up more gradually and have a few bookings here and there to build the experience and portfolio more before really pushing my services too much. Its the same with search engine results, the web designer wants me to do x & y to push my site up in the google ranking so I appear near the top, but I would rather not be up there just yet. I'd be happier taking 10 bookings for next year than 20 or 30... although one day I'd like to be so busy that doing it full time is an option.

Yeah thats something I can do, do you know someone who needs to put a portfolio together? Nah just fancied seeing some high res pics. LOL!!!!

Yeah thats something I can do, do you know someone who needs to put a portfolio together?

Cheers

Thanks mate, hopefully one day I'll be able to quit the day job and just do that full time

Haha sorry Tom I never thought to check it was ok first

Haha yeah that sounds about right!

Thanks mate. No its over the dales in Co. Durham - Somewhere in between Crook and Barnard Castle if I remember correctly Ah, right. It reminds me of the route to the Lakes via Alston, with the roadside markers for snow. Nice shot. That's pretty high up that way (where it was taken) too. Tow Law have the highest football ground in the country iirc. Yeah its really nice up there and is quite similar to the drive up to the lakes. It is really high, we had to abort a shoot a while ago because the fog was so think you couldn't see a thing, yet a few miles down the road there wasn't any fog at all.

Haha thanks, yeah the yellow wall one is a pro model who wanted his portfolio updating, he was VERY full of himself and tbh his poses were well over the top.

Thanks mate. No its over the dales in Co. Durham - Somewhere in between Crook and Barnard Castle if I remember correctly

Thanks mate :-)

Not really when it comes to photography mate... a 4 hour shoot will take me about 20 hours of editing, so including the 1 hour pre shoot that's 25 hours for £400. Tbh anyway not many people would ever require that amount of time for a shoot and you failed to mention the much cheaper options for less shoot time i.e. a 1 hour shoot for £125

Looks really nice that. Good luck with it. Thanks My mate did it for free so I'm over the moon with it tbh... I had tried to do my own last year but it looked awful and had no functionality lol