Alex Peterson: Photography Educator

Alex Peterson: Photography Educator Photography Educator NJ Wedding Photographer | Owner of Idalia Photography

If I could pick the top three favorite things I love about being a wedding photographer, I’d pick getting to know my cli...
03/14/2022

If I could pick the top three favorite things I love about being a wedding photographer, I’d pick getting to know my clients, being a fly on the wall on their wedding day as I capture as many special moments as I can so they can remember them forever, and seeing their images printed in a wedding album that will undoubtedly be one of their most cherished heirlooms for years to come. (I also love getting a front row seat to all the current wedding trends. 😍) What would your top three things be?

If you've never shot a wedding before, there are many aspects of a wedding day you need to be familiar with including:-T...
02/08/2022

If you've never shot a wedding before, there are many aspects of a wedding day you need to be familiar with including:
-The flow of the day
-Must-have shots
-Getting those must-have shots even when HMUA cause an hour long delay 😭
-How to communicate with clients and vendors
-Posing workflows
-Lens choice
-Different lighting situations (including dark churches with awful orange color casts)

Just to name a few!

But how do you get experience if you haven't worked a wedding yet? One of the best ways is by assisting other wedding photographers. This is a non-shooting position where the assistant gets to shadow a photographer by carrying gear, helping with light stands, lenses, helping during family formals, etc.

This experience is priceless as you get a front row seat to seeing how a wedding works from a photography standpoint. You can search the internet for sample wedding workflows all day long, but having real hands-on experience is far more beneficial.

Are you wanting to gain experience within the wedding industry to eventually book your first wedding? This is just one of the 19 tips I shared in a new article on my blog. Click the link below to check out the rest of my tips!

https://alexandrapeterson.com/booking-your-first-wedding/

If you are a photographer that is active on social media, you have probably heard the term ‘ideal client’ or ‘ideal clie...
07/08/2021

If you are a photographer that is active on social media, you have probably heard the term ‘ideal client’ or ‘ideal client avatar’, one time too many by now. I know it can feel a bit overrated, but figuring out who your ideal client is can actually make a huge difference for your marketing.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I recently wrote a blog post about ‘How to attract your ideal clients… and how to figure out who they are!’ so I thought I'd share some of my tips around how to define who your ideal client really is. Here are some questions you can ask yourself in order to figure out your ideal client:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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What is the gender of my ideal client?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
How old is my ideal client?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Where do they love?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What do they do for work and how much do they make?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What are their interests/hobbies/values?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Are they single or have a family?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Where are they located (if location is not important, you can specify if they live in a city, suburb or countryside)?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Where do they hang out online and in person?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What are their dreams and goals?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What are they struggling with?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What keeps them up at night?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Knowing the answers to these questions will help you tailor your marketing to the specific type of client that you want to attract and in turn, help you get booked by people you actually WANT to work with. For more tips on this topic, check out my newest blog post at the link in my bio and tell me in the comments: what do you struggle with when it comes to attracting the "right" client to your business?

Today's post is for the newer photographers who follow.... we all have to start somewhere when starting out in any indus...
06/30/2021

Today's post is for the newer photographers who follow.... we all have to start somewhere when starting out in any industry, and it can be hard to not only get your foot in the door, but also have the confidence to back it up. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given by a fellow photographer was to just be myself. I decided to embrace myself, my story and the unique perspective I was able to give to my audience. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Once you’ve done the talented part and created some stunning creative photography; the hard part is marketing yourself, especially when you are a newbie. Credibility attracts followers and more importantly clients, but it can be quite daunting stepping into the unknown between starting out and gaining the trust of clients. But there are specific themes I would stick to gain credibility. Do you struggle with gaining credibility as a newer photographer? Check out my newest blog post where I share the specific areas I would focus on to gain credibility. Link in bio or head to https://bit.ly/credibility-for-photogs.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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'Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.' - Oscar Wilde

It's been a hot minute since I've posted over here! How is everyone doing?!! I have to say - May and June kicked my butt...
06/25/2021

It's been a hot minute since I've posted over here! How is everyone doing?!! I have to say - May and June kicked my butt (see everything I’ve been up to Idalia Photography )! Wedding season is in full swing and between all the weddings, shoots, and backend tasks, it's been really busy around here. Luckily, the second half of June has been much lighter so I've been able to focus on putting finishing touches on May galleries and a bunch of other things I've got pending and in the works. And next week Jay and I celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary! We haven't planned anything yet though. Anyone local to NJ have a good restaurant recommendation for us? Monmouth County area would be ideal. We haven't had a date night in months - I'm ready to plan a night out! Send me some ideas, NJ friends!

Today is 100% a work day for me. Well, 100% trying to get work done while keeping my toddler busy. 🤣 Between culling, ed...
05/20/2021

Today is 100% a work day for me. Well, 100% trying to get work done while keeping my toddler busy. 🤣 Between culling, editing, working on next week's workshop/styled shoot, prepping for FOUR weddings next week, and editing the next module for my Book More Weddings 101 students, this week is jam-packed!! Busy season has arrived and it's not playin' around, ha! Excited to be back into the swing of things! Also excited that my husband is off from work starting today until September (gotta love that college professor schedule!) AND we registered Olivia for summer camp so, starting June 14th I've got my mornings all to myself, my husband home every day, and an amazing summer to look forward to! Woo! What are you excited about this season??? Comment below!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Phew! What a weekend! After a newborn session on Friday and 15 cherry blossom mini-sessions on Saturday, I spent yesterd...
04/19/2021

Phew! What a weekend! After a newborn session on Friday and 15 cherry blossom mini-sessions on Saturday, I spent yesterday recovering! Well, most of it, anyway, because of course Olivia didn't want me to drive her to the park yesterday - she wanted me to take her on the bike. 😭 Let's just say my legs got a workout this weekend! But my heart is full and I'm so excited to share the images. I got to work with repeat clients and new clients alike and I'm so thankful!! This week is for
1️⃣ connecting with the founding members of my course and getting their feedback on Module 1 before I finalize Module 2
2️⃣ site visit at Tyler Gardens for an upcoming shoot with , , and more!
3️⃣ editing... lots of editing...
4️⃣ preparing for Part 2 of my spring mini-sessions on Saturday.
It's going to be a busy week! What are you most looking forward to this week?
Thank you to for this BTS shot!

Photographers: Did you see my huge announcement on Instagram this week? It all started with an idea I had last year that...
04/10/2021

Photographers: Did you see my huge announcement on Instagram this week?

It all started with an idea I had last year that has me truly excited! The idea I had has been really “raw” for a really long time. Here’s the backstory… For several months, I’ve been getting private messages from people who have reached out with questions like: "Is there a way to learn more about how you book so many weddings?" or when I posted my end of year recap last year on my wedding blog, people asked: "How did you manage to shoot almost 30 weddings during a PANDEMIC?"
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While I do a lot of 1:1 coaching on how to book more weddings, I had never truly considered having a digital course. Of course, it’s something I wanted — I had just never given it a serious thought. Because, honestly, I’m busy. I delivered 31 weddings last year (without childcare for my toddler) and my associates and I have a combined 57 weddings this year. But then most of my spring 2021 weddings were rescheduled due to concerns over COVID and this freed up a lot of time for me from January through May. The more questions I got like this, the more my wheels began turning. I started to see a place where I could work closely with wedding photographers and I could dive into the ins and outs of creating a long-term marketing strategy that allows them to generate leads consistently and book out their years. A strategy that doesn’t involve paying for WeddingWire, TheKnot, or FB ads. The strategy I’ve been using, tweaking, and improving over the last 10 years of shooting weddings to book out my year and book weddings for my associate photographers, too.
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Now I'm inviting you to become a founding member for my new course. Intrigued? Head to the link below to learn more:
https://alexandrapeterson.com/book-more-weddings-101/

Trying to reach new heights in your Instagram Reels strategy?? Let me give you a lift! // When I first started on my jou...
04/05/2021

Trying to reach new heights in your Instagram Reels strategy?? Let me give you a lift! // When I first started on my journey to learn Reels I did these 3 things to really get things going: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
1️⃣Got help! In the very beginning, I actually had my assistant make all of my Reels because I was so overwhelmed by it all! Working with her helped me understand how Reels work and then I finally started creating Reels, too!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
2️⃣ I started with simple Reels that were mostly slideshow based! I did this in Canva, exported the png files, and loaded them into InShot app. Easy peasy!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
3️⃣ I saved other people's Reels that were inspiring to me. One of the best parts about Reels is that you can hop on a trend and create your version of someone else's Reel and that's totally acceptable!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
➡️Okay, now it's YOUR time to take action! Which of these steps are you going to take FIRST? If you're starting with #1, head to the link in my bio and let me help you get started with Reels. Tonight at 8pm I'll be hosting an Intro to Instagram Reels Workshop to help you get started with using this popular feature to get more eyes on your content. Click the link to sign up! https://alexandrapeterson.com/intro-to-reels-workshop/

Tired of your Instagram posts getting low engagement? I was, too! Six months ago, I discovered that Instagram Reels are ...
04/01/2021

Tired of your Instagram posts getting low engagement? I was, too! Six months ago, I discovered that Instagram Reels are the perfect solution for increasing visibility on Instagram and on April 5th, I'm hosting an Intro to Instagram Reels Workshop where I will share everything I've learned about Reels!

In my FREE online workshop I will teach you:

• 3 things you NEED to do before creating Reels
• the three types of Reels that are working best for me as a wedding photographer
• how to make sure your Reels get seen by your Ideal Client
• how to create Reels without feeling overwhelmed
• how to actually use the Reels feature
• tips and tricks I’ve learned over the last six months of using Reels to market my wedding photography business

https://alexandrapeterson.com/intro-to-reels-workshop/

I’ve been wanting to do a Live workshop for a while now but had kept putting it off because going live is a little scary...
03/25/2021

I’ve been wanting to do a Live workshop for a while now but had kept putting it off because going live is a little scary! But you know what? It wasn’t scary at all! Even with a little tech hiccup I had, I so enjoyed the experience of teaching the attendees all about how to get started with Instagram Reels. It brought me back to my days as a high school teacher and it felt so good. To those who attended: I can’t wait to see the new content you produce for your audience! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Last night was a great reminder of how rewarding it is when you step out of your comfort zone. What “scary” thing are you putting off in your business? Share in the comments or in the DMs. I’d love to cheer you on. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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“Whatever makes you uncomfortable is your biggest opportunity for growth.” Bryant McGill

Saturday morning vibes! I was supposed to shoot two weddings this weekend but both were rescheduled due to Covid 😭 so I'...
03/20/2021

Saturday morning vibes! I was supposed to shoot two weddings this weekend but both were rescheduled due to Covid 😭 so I've got a free weekend ahead of me. I'll be spending some time planning the Intro to Reels workshop I mentioned last week, so if you were one of the people who inquired about it, I'll be DMing you info today! In the meantime, tell me - what kind of Reels are your favorites to watch? I've been posting mostly the edu-tainment type. What would you like to see more of? I'd love to know! DM me or leave a comment below!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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