Photographer, Author & Educator Roberto Valenzuela's Secrets to Success (Re-Release)

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Portrait System Podcast – "Photographer, Author & Educator Roberto Valenzuela's Secrets to Success (Re-Release)"

Release Date: November 25, 2024

Introduction

In this re-released episode of The Portrait System Podcast, host Nikki Klosser welcomes Roberto Valenzuela, a renowned photographer, author, and educator. Roberto shares his inspiring journey from a classical guitarist to a successful portrait photographer and offers invaluable insights into mastering both the craft and business aspects of photography.

Roberto’s Journey into Photography

Roberto begins by recounting his unexpected transition from teaching classical and flamenco guitar to pursuing photography full-time. Despite receiving a prestigious tenure as a high school economics teacher, Roberto felt a profound calling towards photography, sparked by a high school students' suggestion during a grant program:

“...the piece of paper said, digital photography. And 25, 20 years later, I'm still doing it.” [36:38]

He describes his early struggles, including his first wedding shoot, which was far from perfect. However, his determination and strategic high pricing helped him secure his initial clientele, setting the foundation for his flourishing career.

Philosophy and Approach to Photography

Roberto emphasizes a three-pronged approach essential for success in photography:

1. Mastering the Craft: “You need to have a relentless dedication to improving your craft behind the camera.” [00:35]

2. Client-Centric Care: “You need to be a person that truly cares about your clients.” [00:35]

3. Business Acumen: “You need to understand how business works.” [00:35]

He likens his role to being a "middleman," focusing on communicating his clients' personalities and stories through tailored lighting and composition rather than merely capturing their images.

“Use light, not just to illuminate, but to communicate.” [71:08]

Importance of Craft, Client Care, and Business Acumen

Roberto delves deeper into each of the three core elements:

• Craft: Continuous improvement and practice are non-negotiable. He shares his personal transformation from a novice to a master photographer through persistent learning and application.

• Client Care: Building genuine relationships with clients leads to more meaningful and impactful portraits. Roberto stresses the importance of liking and connecting with clients to ensure motivation and quality in his work.

“I can't work without liking my clients. I need to feel motivated to do a good job.” [63:06]

• Business Acumen: Understanding marketing and business fundamentals is crucial. Roberto shares strategies like pricing appropriately, creating demand, and simplifying the client journey to enhance business success.

Overcoming Challenges and Mental Blocks

Roberto addresses common mental barriers photographers face, such as feeling inadequate or believing that their circumstances (location, equipment, etc.) limit their success. He encourages photographers to focus on what they can control—improving their skills, caring for their clients, and honing their business strategies.

“If you become a better photographer and keep moving forward, you will make a really good living.” [19:31]

Transition to Educator

Roberto’s passion for teaching naturally extended from his background in education. He emphasizes the importance of effective teaching—transferring concepts in a way that empowers others to create their own versions.

“A master educator can teach you concepts and turn them into something you can use and create your own version of that.” [42:07]

Business Strategy and Marketing Tips

Drawing from his marketing expertise, Roberto offers practical advice:

• Creating Demand: Proactively reach out and create opportunities rather than waiting for clients to come to you. Example: Collaborating with local stores to offer portrait discounts.

• Simplifying Offerings: Present clear and straightforward packages to avoid overwhelming clients.

• Strategic Pricing: Position yourself within a competitive pricing bracket to convey professionalism and reliability.

“You need to create new demand by providing value and simplifying the process for your clients.” [32:49]

Importance of Continuous Learning

Roberto underscores that photography is a never-ending learning journey. Whether it’s updating technical knowledge or evolving artistic techniques, continuous education ensures sustained growth and relevance.

“I'm writing my seventh book on photography... lighting really is a means of communication.” [70:47]

Final Advice and Conclusion

Roberto wraps up by reiterating the importance of mastering the craft, genuinely caring for clients, and understanding business dynamics. He encourages photographers to take calculated risks, invest in quality education, and maintain a client-centric approach to achieve long-term success and fulfillment.

“If you're not promoting yourself, then you don't believe in yourself. Everything comes from you.” [28:44]

Notable Quotes:

• “Use light, not just to illuminate, but to communicate.” – Roberto Valenzuela [71:08]
• “You need to have a relentless dedication to improving your craft behind the camera.” – Roberto Valenzuela [00:35]
• “If you become a better photographer and keep moving forward, you will make a really good living.” – Roberto Valenzuela [19:31]

Conclusion

This episode offers a blend of Roberto Valenzuela’s personal experiences, professional insights, and actionable advice tailored for photographers aiming to elevate their craft and business. His emphasis on continuous improvement, authentic client relationships, and strategic business practices serves as a comprehensive guide for those looking to achieve success in the competitive world of portrait photography.

For more educational resources and to join a community dedicated to photographic excellence, visit The Portrait System.

Transcript

[Nikki Klosser]

Hey there, it's Nikki Klosser and I want to let you know about an awesome free giveaway for people on our email list. If you haven't already, click the link in our podcast description or go to theportraitsystem.com signup to get on the list. If you sign up, you'll get a free posing 101 PDF to jumpstart things. It's an epic PDF, so you'll definitely want to get this. Also, just by being in our email community, you'll get deals, sales and information about any of our upcoming events and activities. So head over to theportraitsystem.com signup and sign up. Today you're listening to the Portrait System podcast.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Look, you need to have three things and relentless dedication to improving your craft behind the camera. Okay? You need to be a person that truly cares about your clients. You need to have that honest, organic care for them and provide them with a place where they feel like they're taken care of. And you need to have good business acumen. Okay? You need to understand how business works.

[Nikki Klosser]

Welcome to the Portrait System Podcast. I'm your host, Nikki Klosser and this show is here to help you succeed in the world of photography and business. To help you learn to become financially free, doing what you love and so much more. With over 1 million downloads, countless photographers have taken what they've learned from both our episodes and from theportraitsystem.com and they have grown their businesses, quit their day jobs and are designing a life of their dreams. We keep it real and share stories about the ups and downs that come with running a photography business. You'll hear real life stories of how other photographers run their business and you'll learn actionable steps that you can take to reach your own goals. Thank you so much for being here. And let's get started. Hey guys. Now is your chance to check out all of the incredible photography education we have available for [e-mail] for only $7, you will get access to over 1000 videos including pricing, posing, marketing, lighting, sales, inspiring photo shoots, self value and more. Yes, you'll get your first month for only $7 when you become a pro member and you'll get access to the full download library with posing guides and workbooks and so much more. Also, this includes a pricing calculator, a studio startup timeline, our weekly live broadcasts, including Sue Brice's live talks, access to our private members only Facebook groups, special discounts on photography products, and so much more. Head over to ThePortraitSystem.com and enter the code PODCAST7 to get your first month for only $7. That's ThePortraitSystem.com and Enter the code PODCAST7. Hi, everyone, it's Nikki Klosser here. And this week on the Portrait System podcast, we have another throwback for you. Roberto Valenzuela did a demo last week on our photo deal days, and everyone loved what he did, so we're bringing back his episode. Roberto is an incredible photographer and lighting teacher, and he has a really amazing story for you to listen to this week. All right, let's started with Roberto Valenzuela. Hi, Roberto. Welcome to the Portrait System.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Hi, Nikki. How are you? It's been like 10 years or not really. I saw you. Adobe VPI. But then before that.

[Nikki Klosser]

It's been a long time before that. I know, I know. I feel like this podcast has been a long time coming. Like, we should have done this a while ago.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I'm so pumped. Boom, let's do this. What?

[Nikki Klosser]

I know. Well, okay, wait. I just want to tell people I met you back in 2012 at WPPI. So I was brand new. I had no idea what I was doing. And you were one of the first instructors that really resonated with me. Like, the way that you teach is, like, so easy to understand, but you, like, explain really complex things and systems and poses and lighting and everything. But you. You do it in such a. A way that is just clicks with my brain. And so right away I was like, I like this guy.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It's photography. It's complicated, right? Like, you think it's just easy. You point the camera and you push the button. But, man, it gets crazy. So I. I try to really make it so it's. All the elements that you have to think about are clearly labeled in front of you, and you can understand each element. And that's how I think people become way better photographers, you know?

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, well, and then you were selling that day, you were selling your book, Picture Perfect Practice. And I remember buying it, and on the way home, I, like, devoured it. And I remember I told you that later because I was in some of your classes, you know, over the next couple of years. But I remember telling you that, and you were like, oh, my God, you read the whole book. Like, you're like, do you know how much heart and soul and how much time I put into that book? And you read it on the way home. And I was like, oh, shit, sorry.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I remember this.

[Nikki Klosser]

I remember this amazing like, the book is amazing.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It's because it took. You know, sometimes as an author, like, I write a book, it takes me. It takes me less time now. But Picture Perfect Practice was my first book, and that one took me two years to write. And when you spend two years of your life thinking about it every day and writing and changing paragraphs and thinking, could this idea be written better? Like, is this clear? Could this be a. Could I have a better photo example? And then people read it on the plane. It's like, part of you is super happy that you read it, and part of you is like, ouch.

[Nikki Klosser]

No, but I referenced that because back when I shot weddings, I mean, you know, I was a wedding photographer for, I think it was, like, six years. So not a whole lot of time, but, you know, a significant chunk of time. Five years. Five years. But still, I used that book. I can't even tell you how many times I would refer to that book. It really, really helped.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

That book came from my wedding days. I don't do weddings anymore, but that book came from my wedding days because I couldn't figure out how to. How to get locations to look different when you shoot in the same locations many times. So when I started my career in Tucson, I shot 80 weddings in the same venue. And I was so bored. I was bored out of my mind. So I was like, somebody please just blow my brains out. You know? So I wanted to. I wanted to develop some sort of way to break down that location into something that would be more interesting. So that's how that location chart was born in Picture Perfect Practice. That made that book so popular and so famous worldwide. It was. It teaches you about looking at a location and how to break it down into its pieces so then you can use those pieces and harness each piece for photographic potential. That was the whole goal of that book.

[Nikki Klosser]

Mm. Well, okay. So, I mean, I know you're a super successful educator and author and photographer now, but I know you didn't. This is not. Like, you weren't born with this. Like, this is what. Like, it didn't just happen.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

No, I was not born good. I was born. But then I wasn't born again. I wasn't born. I was actually probably one of the worst photographers that has ever lived in human history. If you saw my work, you would think you are trying to be horrible, but that was me trying to be good. I really had not a single ounce of photographic talent in my system.

[Nikki Klosser]

I've heard you say that before, that you don't think that, like, I Think you said at one of your classes you were like, it's not that, oh, Roberto, you're so talented. And you're like, no, I actually, I actually like learned. Like I practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced. And that's really stuck with me because I, I also have to practice. It doesn't just come naturally to me.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I think the human brain is so amazing that you can learn anything from piano to violin to photography to how to fix a car and, and we only live once. So. Think it's so fun to think of a challenge like becoming a good photographer and actually say, okay, I'm going to start. And every step forward you take towards that goal, your brain is developing more knowledge, more connections are being made in that photographic field. And next thing you know, a month has gone by and you're four times the photographer you used to be. And that to me is for everybody. Everybody. I mean anyone that has a brain can do that. And I think I'm a true testament of totally sucking really bad and going from that to step by step. You know, I did make the mistake of comparing myself to others, but I don't even consider that a mistake. Actually, Nikki, I consider that good. Because when you compare people say, don't compare yourself to others. Well, comparing myself to others gave me a benchmark. Like I said, okay, I want to be there. Like that's a benchmark. And I know it sounds cool, like, like totally Anthony Robbins style, like, don't compare yourself to others. Just worry about yourself. Well, that's beautiful and romantic and all, but you need to have a goal. You need to have, like, what is the thing I'm trying to reach? If you don't, if it's not there, how are you supposed to reach it? If you run a mile at a track race, you need to know that the mile ends after 1600 meters. So you need to know you run four laps around the track and then you finish. So every step you take, on every lap around the track, you're going towards achieving your goal. That's all I'm saying. That's all I did. It wasn't some magical thing, it was actually very achievable.

[Nikki Klosser]

But before you were a photographer at all. Tell us about that.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I began my work life as a classical and flamenco guitar private teacher. And I was also a classical guitarist, like a concert classical guitarist. And I did that for 10 years. I taught I don't know how many kids and adults and like children and senior citizens. I taught everybody from 4 year olds to 88 year olds in my 10 year career as a classical guitarist and instructor. And I miss my students dearly. Those were some of the best years of my life. I didn't make any money. I mean, I was just like barely, you know, whatever. It was good, actually. I made enough money to get my college degrees and stuff and pay for college, but it was just like crazy. And practicing guitar to become a classical guitarist and be able to perform in front of people, I always tell people that's been the biggest blessing in my life. Because one thing that differentiates a concert musician like a classical guitarist to a photographer is that the classical guitarist doesn't have Photoshop to fix your mistakes later.

[Nikki Klosser]

Right.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

You play and as soon as you start the piece and everybody's in front of you. I remember having maybe 30 to 40 people in concerts, sometimes 50, 60 people that would get dressed up, bring their dates and they would come to my concert and they would be intermission with a little cash bar outside and stuff. Then you would come back for the second part of the concert. And when people would come in and they would all sit down, my hands were sweating, I was trembling and I had to wash my hands with boiling hot water to warm up my fingers because when I got nervous, I just felt like my fingers were not moving and I was in.

[Nikki Klosser]

Use your fingers to like. Yes.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I have to. Yeah. To play.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yes.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Classical guitar is very difficult. It's actually considered the most difficult instrument in the world to master. If you look it up, like, what is the most difficult instrument in the world to master? They say classical guitar. So I'm sitting there thinking, oh God, you can hear people coming in. Everybody's. You can hear people chatting and that conversation sound like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And everybody's getting ready to sit down and Nikki, I'm about to die. Of how much?

[Nikki Klosser]

I can imagine.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yeah. You know, people pay their 25, $30 to be there. And I'm like, dear Lord. And so you sit on your chair, everybody applauses. You feel your forehead just dripping. But you have to control yourself. Just find your Zen. And then you think about the first piece you're about to play and all of a sudden you realize that you can't start because you're too nervous. Like you're going to mess up. You know, something happens right there. And this helped me with photography too. Something happens right there. When that moment of total panic happens at the last possible minute before you're about to start playing and people are all quiet watching you and you could hear a pin drop. Okay. This happens, mentally at least to me. I stopped thinking about. The audience is there to see me play and make mistakes, and then they're going to say, oh, this guy sucks. They're there to judge me. I have to do really well so they don't judge me. And that really killed me. Just like a photographer compares himself. Like, oh, I'm going to take these pictures and my clients are going to judge me. And you get nervous. So the switch was I'm only a middleman between the composer of the piece, say, Johann Sebastian Bach, and I'm only the middleman to show them how genius Bach is in his composing. And I'm only going to show them how amazing he is through my fingers to the audience, okay, so I'm only the middleman. So I'm going to play this piece for them because I want them to feel and hear how exciting these pieces are and how genius these pieces are. So I became the middleman, and it was no longer about me. It was no longer about me. It was about Buck. If people don't like the piece, it's because they don't like that composition by Buck. But if they love the piece, it's because Buck is like. Because that just, you know, is a piece they enjoy, you know, so they love it. So I'm just a middleman. And that flow of energy calmed me, and I was able to perform. And my fingers were actually not only performing the piece, I would actually be able to play some parts harder and stronger. And people would be like, wow, like, this is powerful. And I would be like, God, I'm gonna. I'm gonna show you how much of a badass Bach is because look at this part of this piece. And then I would play it perfectly because my brain was no longer worried about me. They was worried about showing them how amazing this piece is. And that was hugely advantageous for me in my photography career.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay, tell me how, like, how do you take that kind of thought process and mentality and apply it to being a photographer?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Two ways. In the portrait world, you're photographing somebody's soul. That's what a portrait is. Otherwise, it becomes a headshot, right? So in a portrait, you're photographing somebody's personality, somebody's soul. It goes deeper than skin deep, right? So I try to show through that portrait what a beautiful life this person has had. Like, what a life, what the problems, the successes, the tribulations, the things this person has gone through. I try to capture that in an image. And I'm just a middleman. I'm just a photographer that will capture that. So I try really hard to create lighting. For example, I've had people that I photographed in my portrait studio here in Beverly Hills that had gone through a lot of PTSD in their job careers. And so when I took their portrait, I wanted to be the middleman and show anybody who saw that photo. I wanted them to see the deepness of his soul and how much experience those eyes have and how much that person has been through. And I am no longer worried about me as a photographer. I'm only worried about me producing that to the viewer of the photograph. And it became like, okay, do I want to just light it with like, do I just want to put a light here and a light there and a 45 degree angle like everyone always says, and then put my remote on my camera and trigger lights, you know, like what? It doesn't say anything. So what kind of middleman am I? Like, I'm not saying anything, I'm just illuminating the guy and taking a picture of that. So what I try to do is say I'm the middleman. Okay? So I need to communicate what this person has been through, the good and the bad. So what lighting can get me there to communicate that? I forgot all about that 45 degree angle, softboxes and all of that stuff I just said. All people have gone through different things. So all lighting has to be different. Because the lighting is what develops that mystery is that creates that drama. It's what makes you stare at a photograph. And if you have the same lighting on every person, to me at least it was not doing them any favors. It's not a portrait of them, it's just an exposure. An exposure is when you expose somebody with light that you can see with your eyes. That's an exposure. That's a proper exposure. I'm not here to, as the middleman, I'm not trying to set an exposure. I'm trying to communicate who this person is through a portrait. Just like in my guitar days. I'm just trying to show them how genius Bach composed pieces, it's the same thing. So I would sit there and I didn't spend an hour talking to them about their life or anything, but I would spend a few minutes talking about their jobs and their careers and, you know, some of their things that they enjoy in life. A little bit, maybe 10 minutes, a little bit just kind of casual conversation. And then I started thinking about what lighting scheme would give me the best representation of what this person has been through. And that has been my success in the photo world. That. That, that came from that.

[Nikki Klosser]

Wow. Yeah. I really love this thought process and I feel like a lot of it too goes back to. It's about the client. It's not about you. How can you serve them. It's like, it's like taking that concept and just putting it on steroids. You know that. Yes, this is about them. And I love the whole middleman concept. This is great.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

This whole thing about how can you serve them is exactly right. It's not about you. You can be a famous photographer or a beginner photographer, but let's all take a humble pill. Let's all go to Walgreens and go to aisle five and take a chill pill and remember that we are communicators. We're communicating something about the subject that speaks volumes to the people viewing the photograph. And that changes everything. That changes everything. Now I'm just really excited about this because I really feel this will help photographers worldwide. How to change. Like, oh, like this is just a podcast, but it's powerful. I'm telling you. This is a powerful message that I'm saying, like, it changes everything about the way you approach. If I'm shooting a wedding, I think about their kids being 40 and looking at their parents wedding book and seeing the love in that day and that passion that the parents had in their wedding day. And I'm the communicator of that. Like, that's so strong, Nikki. Like, that's so powerful.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yes, it is.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

You know, like, people say, oh, you're a wedding photographer. Oh, you're like the shrimp of the sea. You're like, you're like the poop, you know, and I'm like, I'm actually so honored to be the poop of the sea. If, you know, I'm so honored to be the poop because by being the poop, it allows me to serve my clients in the most beautiful way. People will people jump over a fire to save their wedding memories? I'm telling you. Okay, and that's to me, like, if something were to happen to the parents and then the kids were looking at their wedding album going back, remembering their parents, who took those photos, Nikki? Who took those photos? You know? And do you really want to take photos of them just kissing in front of buildings? Because that's what every photographer does. Or do you want to push yourself and show something that says about something about their relationship and how much they like each other and how much they love each other and maybe the grandma like in on the side like seeing something with her grandson in the wedding day and. And then the. God. Photography is the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of. And it gives me more pleasure than anything else I've ever done. And I've done a lot of things. And yes, photography doesn't make me. Doesn't make you. It's not going to make you compete with Elon Musk's pockets. But. But I bet you I beat Elon Musk in my happiness and how fulfilled I feel in my life.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

You know, in Mexico, there's two bank accounts. The happiness and the respect you're the community and your family has for you. That's the bank account that counts. And your financial bank account, which nobody cares about. So in Mexico, when you say, this is the wealthiest guy in the town, they're talking about the first bank account, which is how respected and loved that person is. Not.

[Nikki Klosser]

That's how it should be.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Pockets. Yeah. That's not how deep these pockets are.

[Nikki Klosser]

That's how it should be.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

That's how it should be. Yeah. I mean, when you are a respected, beloved person, there is no higher pay than that. So I wouldn't worry too much about trying to make $10 million a year as a photographer. I think photography can make you a great living. You know, you can make a really good living, and the way to do that is by becoming the very best photographer you can be. And that's a very high standard because you can be very good. But people limit themselves. I live in a small town. I'm never going to make it. I don't have the right camera. How am I supposed to afford these lights? And I can't afford them. So you mentally give yourself a break and an excuse not to be the greatest photographer you can be, because it's easier to say, I just can't. I don't have the equipment, I don't have the town. I don't have. People in my town are not willing to pay. These people are cheap. These people don't care. And the list goes on and on and it just blocks you. And that's unfortunate.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Everything you just said is so true. That list, that people have that mental block. Real quick, there was something that I read on Instagram the other day. It was a quote. It's twin flame something. Twin Flame universe, I think it is. And it said a nice car and a big house are the old status symbols. The ultimate flex is freedom, location freedom, financial freedom and time freedom. And even though they're not directly saying happiness and Love, like all of that is included in there if you have the time, the freedom of time to do what you love and do, you know, just spend the time with your family and to be happy. It is truly a remarkable life.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It truly is very remarkable and beautiful. And if you're a portrait photographer listening to this, I'm telling you, I'm a portrait photographer now. I still love weddings to pieces. I love them. I don't do them anymore. I do maybe one a year, but you can make a good living, but you're not going to get there if you are average. Okay, I'm going to say this and it's going to sound harsh, but I mean it with love. The photo world lives in a world of average. Okay? I've traveled the world more than most people in the industry when it comes to photography education and meeting photographers around the world. I have seen almost every country like, it has been crazy. My experience has been insane. So for me to say this is because it's really how I feel based on my experience. We live in a world of average. We, we get up in the morning. We, we don't ever work on our craft. A classical guitarist has to get up in the morning and at least put in four hours a day. Otherwise you just won't be able to perform in a concert where mistakes are not fixed in Photoshop later. You just have to do it right when you are on the spot. Photographers don't have that pressure, so they don't do it. So they get up, they cook, they do their stuff, they go for a walk and they spend nine hours a day maybe retouching pictures, but really no time at all working on them, on what they look like behind the camera. Like, how much skill do you bring to the table behind the camera, not behind your laptop or your Wacom tablet, but behind the camera. Are you a picture taker or are you a photo creator? Are you a person that takes pictures of exposures that are properly exposed, or are you crafting light to communicate something about that subject that's going to speak volumes to their family and friends for the rest of their life? Photography that pays is the latter. Photography that pays is the photographer that can take a portrait of someone with the lighting schematics that fits that personality better than any other lighting schematic for that particular person that says something about who they are. And if you can practice enough to get there, you will make a really good living. I strongly would stand by that statement that when you say people don't pay, it's because why would they? If you went to a store, a grocery store, and all they sold was eggs, just chicken eggs. No one's going to buy the chicken eggs that are more expensive because they're just chicken eggs. So the only way each chicken egg manufacturer is going to compete with other chicken egg manufacturers at that store is by lowering their price. And this is what photographers do. But if you become a better photographer and a better photographer and a better photographer, and you just keep moving forward, regardless of the size of your town, regardless of your equipment, regardless of your camera, regardless of how good looking or bad looking your subject in front of you is, stop blocking yourself. But you just keep moving forward, you become caviar, which are still eggs, but eggs that people are willing to pay 500 for a tiny can. Okay. And people will pay for that career.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, yeah. And I think in addition to really, like mastering your craft and your skills, I think a lot of it too is providing that service like we talked about that makes you stand out. Like, if you're just going to put your camera up, click, click, done, done, onto the next sort of thing and not give some sort of experience or make some sort of connection with those clients, you know, you're not giving them a reason to, to talk about you to their friends and to their family. It's like be the photographer that people want to book based on skills, service, connection, all of it. And like you said, people will pay.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yeah. Actually, you can't do what I'm saying unless you do that, because photography is an intimidating endeavor for the subject. So if a subject comes to your studio to portrait, they're not going to lower their defensive barriers down. If you're an asshole. Okay. You're just not.

[Nikki Klosser]

Exactly.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

But if you are a human being that's really caring for what? For the portrait. You care for your job, you care for being a great communicator of who this person is. And you truly care. I truly care about my clients. I think I thank them for coming. You know, like, without them, I couldn't pay my bills. Right. So. And I also think about their, what they've been through and stuff. And I'm curious about people's lives like that. Which probably makes me a better portrait photographer, you know, because I actually definitely, definitely care. Like, what have you done? What did you do at the FBI? What did you do? Like, what did you do when you were part of, like the drug administration and you had to go to Colombia and fight drug lords? Like, tell me about that. I actually care. But then when I take Their portrait, I'm like, oh, it really shows. So what you're saying is true. Like, look, you need to have three things to be a good photographer. You need to have three things. You need to have a relentless dedication to improving your craft behind the camera, okay? You need to be a person that truly cares about your clients. You need to have that honest, organic care for them and provide them with a place where they feel like they're taken care of. And you need to have good business acumen, okay? You need to understand how business works a little bit, okay? You need to have a business works. If you have those three things, you're good. If you're a master photographer who works on their craft all day and then you just don't have the business, you're screwed. If you're a master business person, but you're a total asshole in front of your clients and you're cocky as hell, you're. You're eventually you're screwed. Your business will get you through for a month or two, maybe three, maybe eight months, but then people will stuck and it will be over, okay? So you need to have all three. And if you suck behind the camera because you can fix it in Lightroom or Photoshop later, you're going to get run over by the competition soon enough because people are going to. There's just going to be competition that's just going to run you over, okay? So you need those three things. So if you're listening, three things, okay? You need to be the best you can be behind the camera. You need to truly care about the person and care about what you're doing and believe in what you're doing. Keyword, believe in what you're doing. What you're doing matters. You're not just taking pictures. Don't let people call you the shrimp of the sea. You know, what you're doing really matters and you're helping society, you're helping the world. And see, you need to understand basic business acumen. You need to understand how business works. You need to understand business knowledge. You need to understand basics of marketing and you need to not be shy to promote yourself. If you're not, if you don't promote yourself, then you don't believe in yourself. And if you don't believe in yourself, how's anybody going to feel your energy and feel inspired to hire you? They're not. Everything comes from you.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I like wanted people to rewind that and listen to it again. Like, Truly, it is everything you just said. It's all of it, it's like a big puzzle that needs to be put together and you can't be slacking on one of those major pieces because it's going to show in your business. And if you're someone out there where you're not booking the clients and you're not getting the prices that you want, all of that, you've got to look at which piece there are you lacking in right now.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

And you only have to worry about three pieces. So it's not that hard. Is it the business, is it you as a photographer, or is it that you're an asshole or which one is it?

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes to think, okay, well, it's me, you know, in Roberto, I have interviewed people from around the world. I mean, Nigeria, Belgium, Texas, New York, like, you know, uk, everywhere, Australia, New Zealand. It doesn't matter where you live. It doesn't matter if your economy tanked. It doesn't, like, okay, I don't mean to sound like, oh, you know, everything can be great wherever you are all the time, because I know that's, you know, I don't have the rose colored glasses on, but man, it's like if you do the work, like, don't you think you can make it work?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Oh, I believe it. I mean, that's, that's the, that's what I, that's what I preach, you know, you do the work, you will get results. Most photographers listening, especially most photographers, don't do the work. They want the work to come to them. That's a big difference.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay, Right.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

They want the work to come to them. The phone stops ringing, the emails don't come, no more inquiries. You're sitting there while you're editing your photos in lightroom, eating potato chips, hoping that the phone rings and that emails come in. It's not going to happen. Okay? People don't necessarily wake up saying, I need a photographer today to take a portrait of me. You need to make that demand happen. How do you do that? By providing them with business acumen things. For example, here's an example. Let's say somebody gets, I don't know, new highlights or they did something to their body or they have new teeth or whatever, whatever you want to do. You, you need to celebrate. You need to be able to say, okay, here's the new me. And that's, that's, that's a demand you can create. You can create demand. Say, hey, if you did this, you should do a portrait. Like, yes, you should do a Portrait with that, you know, it's what, what is a portrait going to take you 30, 40 minutes? Like, you do a portrait and you remember that moment, you created that demand. But if you sit there at your house and you're waiting for people to say, hmm, I just had my hair redone and I look amazing, I really need a portrait, it's not going to happen, you know, so you got to encourage people. This is the business side of things. And when people come, you need to have clear, a clear business funnel. Okay, how do you get these people? If you buy clothing for your child, for your five year old, like I have a five year old. So if you go buy clothing for your 5 year old at the clothing store in your neighborhood, you can go and you pay for your clothes and you leave and you're done and you put the clothes and your kid looks cute and you take a picture of them with your iPhone. But if the store is cross promoting with a photographer because that photographer had had the foresight to go to that local store and say, hey, if somebody spends $200 or more in your store, I'm going to give them 40% off a portrait session for their child. Now you're talking about creating value for both the store and the client. Okay, so then when that person spends $200, the guy says, hey, you're at 190. If you spend 10 more, you got 200, you can get 40% off this portrait session. This photographer is really good. Check out the website or check out the little thing that's here. You can see it. They're like, oh, well, okay, I wasn't going to do a portrait of my kid. But hey, no clothes, why not? I mean, who's going to say no to that? So you call the photographer and then the photographer starts to overwhelm the person with choices and 10,000 products and this and that, and it becomes a headache for them. So you need to think of like the in n out burger style of things. You know, you have meal one, meal two, or meal three. Simplify the process.

[Nikki Klosser]

I love that.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Don't make it a big deal. Yeah, don't make it a big deal. Simplify the process for your clients. Hey, you just bought the new clothes. You. Oh, that's amazing. Can you send me a photo of your clothes? Oh, sure. As soon as they send you a photo of the clothes, they are now connected with you. Because now you're invested, you feel like that photographer cares enough to ask you for a photo of their clothes because that photographer wants to come up with something that will be cool for them based on that clothing you just bought. That's a business. As a smart business person, that's an investment. You're not going to go to another photographer at that point and start the process over. You already feel taken care of by this other photographer. Does that make sense?

[Nikki Klosser]

Absolutely.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Right? What did you do? You asked for some photos. I mean, it's like, God, it's so the money is in front of you, but we are so blinded with excuses that we can't see five inches past our nose.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, absolutely. So, Roberto, do you remember when you were first starting out as a photographer because you went from being a classical guitarist to a teacher, right. Then to a photographer.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yep, exactly.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay, so do you remember when you decided you were going to, like, leave your teaching career for photography? Like, what type of marketing were you doing back then?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

First? I have a degree in marketing and economics. Right. So that did help a little bit. I had some knowledge. I went to the University of Arizona and I got my degree in marketing. And that really helped because I knew how people behave. I actually got my degree in something called consumer behavior, which is the psychological reasons why you buy the products you buy. That's what I specialize.

[Nikki Klosser]

Interesting. Yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

So when you buy shampoo at the grocery store and you see the aisle of shampoos or cereal or whatever, like, why makes you go to one or two versus the rest? Is it the colors? Is it the fact that you have brand affiliation? Do you have brand loyalty with your parents? Like, did your parents choose this brand? So now you stick to this brand forever? Does it trigger a childhood memory? And so on and so on. So you. I have this specialization in marketing. So what happened was I was a very happy economics teacher at the same high school, which is kind of funny that I went to high school in. So I came back as a teacher. The poor teachers were like, no, not this guy. Because, Nikki, I gotta tell you, I wasn't the easiest person. You know, I was like, high energy. I was like. There was like a nuclear bomb inside of me at all times every single day. People who are like, oh, my God, what is this? Why is this kid so much energy?

[Nikki Klosser]

No, you. No, not a chance. What?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

So I graduated, and six years after my graduation, I came back. Or seven years after my graduation, I came back. I got hired as a teacher at that high school. That was the craziest thing when we had the teacher orientation day and I showed up and they're like, roberto, oh, my God, what are you doing here? You Know, this is teacher orientation for what are you doing here? I was like, oh, I'm here for teacher orientation.

[Nikki Klosser]

That's funny.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Are you kidding me? Well, I was very happy teaching economics, marketing, finance and entrepreneurship. Those were my courses. And I taught for four years at that high school. And on the fourth year, George Bush, the president. George Bush Jr. Not the dad, but Junior. He gave every business teacher a $90,000 grant so then that students would be able to learn business by doing things, not just by reading a textbook. So the $90,000 was to start a real business at the high school. And then people would be like, oh, I mean, yeah, it was amazing. And it's like, oh, I would totally do this. So other high schools did, like, bakery, like, they did a bakery. Other people did, like an automotive, like, mechanic thing. And everybody would bring in their cars and the cars would get fixed and they would charge. And then I asked my students, like, okay, guys, we have $90,000. We're going to be developing our business curriculum based on a business that you guys want to do. So what do you guys want to do? So they thought about it for the evening. I said, the next tomorrow, you guys come back and you guys discuss it. And then you guys tell me what business you guys want to do. And they came back and to me, they said, here's the piece of paper. Literally, like in courtroom, I opened the piece of paper and it said, digital photography.

[Nikki Klosser]

No way.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

And that paper changed.

[Nikki Klosser]

This is how it all started the.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Entire course of my life.

[Nikki Klosser]

Stop it. I've never heard you talk about that.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It's so right there. It was a piece of paper and it said, digital photography. And I remember the writing wasn't very good. It was like digital. Like, it was like weird spelling. I mean, the spelling was right, but it was just hard to read that person's handwriting. But it was Digital photography. And two words. Digital photography, two words. And 25, 20 years later, I'm still doing it. And it's just crazy how life works. Like you. Yeah. I woke up that day, Nikki. I had my cereal, I ate, I had my coffee, and I had my half spilled orange juice that I always spilled in the car on my way to school. Every day was the same. I always spilled my orange juice on the car. And I got to school that day, and I opened up a piece of paper. That day started so ordinary. But at the end of that day, other plans were set for my life. And I had no idea when I woke up that morning that that piece of paper could have said toy Making. I don't know. It could have said hat. It could have said basket weaving. I don't know. It could have said anything. It said digital photography. Can you believe it?

[Nikki Klosser]

I mean, that's a really remarkable story.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It's nuts. Looking back, I still laugh. You know, if I would have known that day, the incredible worldwide journey and the array of emotions and experiences that I was going to have because of what, those two words in that piece of paper, I would have just. No, I would have just not believed a single thing. I would have thought you were on crack. But, right. I, you know, now I'm a Canon explorer of light. I'm like, seven books authored. I travel the. Travel the world five times a year. I teach photography. I do my photo shoots, I do my stuff. Oh, my God, I could not be happier. And I, I raised my family on this. I live in Beverly Hills, California. I'm so fulfilled because of photography. My dreams have been all like, there. Like, I've seen every corner of the world and I have been invited to people's homes in Argentina and in Africa and in Asia and in Vietnam and in Kuala Lumpur, and I have been a guest at people's dinner tables. And they treat me like a huge important guest for them. And I'm like, I could not live a better life. This is why I tell people, if you're a photographer, you're one of the luckiest people in the world. If you can just get what this industry can give you. You have to be able to accept what this industry can give you. And you have to understand that once you get past that mental block, that ceiling, that I can't and I'm not worthy, or I don't. I don't live in the right town or I don't have enough money for gear, whatever the excuse you may have is as soon as you break that, the world will become your oyster, okay? It will become your oyster and amazing things will happen. If you can be. If you can just work hard enough on those three things. Your business, your photography skills behind the camera, and what kind of person you are, you know?

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay, so, you know, obviously you quit teaching, you grew your photography business and spent years photographing people and weddings and you know everything, right? You started out doing everything.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I started out doing weddings.

[Nikki Klosser]

Just weddings only. Okay.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

And then at what point did you decide? I mean, clearly you're an educator. You taught people classical guitar, you educated students marketing and economics. Like, clearly you have it in you. You enjoy teaching. But at, like, at what point did you decide, okay, in addition to photographing clients and all of that like that, you wanted to teach other photographers as well.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Well, I can't help it. Right? It's in my blood. Like, I can't help it. Like, I am not a photographer that tried to go to teaching for diversifying my. My income and try to make money through. Through other photographers. I am actually more of an educator that uses photography as the medium of education.

[Nikki Klosser]

Hey, just a quick break to tell you that since you're here listening, you have access to a really great offer for our listeners only. We have a special promo code you can use to get 50% off the cost of membership. Just go to theportraitsystem.com or click the link in the description and use the promo code PODCAST50 to get 50% off of a membership. We rarely discount memberships, so this is a big deal. As I hope you already know, the membership is how I and so many guests on this podcast reached our success. And it gives you access to countless amazing videos, an awesome community, and all the tools you need to build a massively successful business. So use the code podcast50Now to join the community and to start building the business of your dreams. I'll see you there. That's kind of what I was getting at. Like, I feel like you just had it, because I think. I think a lot of photographers go that route, but it's like, if you don't have it in your heart to really, truly want to help and educate people, regardless of what the topic is, it's not going to work. Like, I feel like it's just. It's like a similar process of having to really authentically want to help and teach people.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yeah, you. It's a type of person that is very patient and actually understands the difference between showing someone how you do something, which is not a good teacher, and the other one, which is teaching them the process so they can do it themselves, they have enough understanding that they can create their own version of what you're teaching. That's a master educator. A master educator can teach you concepts and turn them into something that you can use and create your own version of that. A bad educator or somebody who says, this is how I do it and this. And I'm gonna. I'm gonna just use my words out of my mouth to just describe my process. And I hope it helps you. Yeah, but it's just. It doesn't help you.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. You know, that's how sue is too. You and sue are similar in that way. Like, sue, clearly. I mean, people Take. She teaches concepts and, you know, exactly what you were saying, then people can just make it their own. It's like, yeah, it really is an amazing way to teach.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Sue has a beautiful educational nature. I've seen her teach. And she began teaching a creative life, and we. We began creative life close to. At the same time. She was before me a little bit. But sue definitely has that in her, where it's being able to transfer techniques and make them understandable and attainable by the person that's listening to her. And then they can use this to create their own. And you cannot really just wake up and say, I'm going to do that. You can develop teaching skills, but just like you can develop anything else, but you can't just be a photographer and says, like, well, I need an extra $30,000, and when I go to your workshop and I'll just tell people what I do. You know, a lot of people, especially in social media, if you're popular in social media, people get drawn by that, which, you know, it's good because I believe people should be investing in education all the time. This is how you get to become a better photographer, which is one of those three core elements we talked about. But you got to think about who is. Who's an actual educator or who's just a photographer that's popular in social media. There's two different things. Because if you invest in a workshop or something with somebody who could care less about you, but they just want to teach you what they do so you can get. They can get paid. You need to do your research, make sure you call people, ask people, use. Use your own social media to make your own research about who it is, this person, how this person teaches, and then you will be better for it. Because the reason why I say that, Nikki, is because I believe people think education is a side thing that's not really necessary. I believe photographers think equipment comes first and education comes, like, if they have time, if they need it, like, I don't know, whatever. The problem is, we all have the same equipment. If you have $4,000, you can buy the same camera. So again, you're back to the chicken egg at the store. We're all the same, you know. So by you investing in proper education, keyword proper, you will become a much better photographer. And this is really the best way to learn. And if you have a bad experience on a workshop or you have bad experience in two workshops, because the person that you were drawn to was just popular in social media or, you know, takes like a cool picture and you didn't do your research on how that person is as an educator, you're going to never do a workshop again. And that's the beginning of your downfall. Yeah, you know, so I tell people, man, I'm so glad you're taking classes, you're paying for workshops, you're going to conventions, you're going to portrait masters, you're going to these kinds of things. You have to continue doing that. And yes, you will run into some people in the world that don't do a good job teaching. And that will teach you a lesson to make sure you do your thorough research before you give them your dollars.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, you know, yeah, definitely.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yeah. But, you know, so back to my high school days, the students said photography. So I didn't know anything about photography. I didn't even know that the lens and the body could separate. I thought that cameras were always connected with the lens because, you know, that's what my experience. I didn't know anything about photography, so. But we went there, I started calling people and you know what people said in Tucson when I called for help? They actually said, we don't want to help you because we don't want to breed more photographers into the city.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, I mean, you know, sadly, Sadly, I think that's how things happen. Although I feel like there's been a little bit of a shift where there's more community. Or maybe it's just because I'm so entrenched in like the portrait system, the portrait masters, where it's so community based and helping each other. But man, I can't tell you how many stories I've had of people like other photographers will just shut the door in their face. Like, nope, I don't know what it.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Is, but that was the response I got in Tucson back in 2005. That was the response I got. They were like, no, it's okay, we don't really want to help. I think when you're in a world of average, when you live in that world of average, you get scared for competition. Competition comes as a threat to you. When you break through that average ceiling, you see competition as community. And that's a very different thing. Like community, because you can bounce ideas back and forth. You're not scared of them because that person's style is different than your style. That person's personality is different than yours. And there's plenty of work to go around, so that person becomes community. But when you are, when you live in the world of average, when you're just an Average photographer. And you don't go any further. Then people coming into the industry, you see them as competition, as a threat, you know.

[Nikki Klosser]

Absolutely.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

But I stayed with my students late after school. So school ended at 2:45 or 2:50. And instead of going home, I would stay in the classroom till 9 o'clock at night with my students. Parents would have to bring their kids dinner at the classroom at 6pm in order for them to keep playing with the cameras and the photo gear that we ended up buying. Oh my gosh, those days were crazy. Like it was 8 o'clock at night and we were still trying to figure, figure out how this light works. And we bought strobes and we bought cameras and lenses and we had $90,000. So we had all this stuff and none of us had any idea how to use it.

[Nikki Klosser]

It's crazy. Like $90,000, $90,000. Like it's like a mind blowing number at that time, I'm sure.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Like taxpayers dollars at work.

[Nikki Klosser]

Right? Just to buy like photography equipment, like that's an insane amount of.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

Wow. And to have to figure out what to buy and what to do. And like were you and your students like all researching it together? Like, I mean we were sitting on.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

The floor in the back room of our classroom where we had. My classroom had two parts, like the chairs and desk section. And then we had like a back section that was like another classroom size, but it was more used for storage. But it was big. It was almost as big as another classroom. So we used that room as the studio and we brought chairs in from the front and we brought to the back and we sat and I told students, like, guys, there's this button, it says like AF lock. Can you tell me what that. Can somebody explain what that is? And then somebody's like, okay, it says, I think that's out of focus lock. And I think you can click on it halfway, then recompose and it will stay locked on that focus point. I was like, okay, okay. So you have to recompose. Like it doesn't follow the thing. No, it doesn't. Like you have to put the little red dot thingy on the person and then lock the focus there or push this button and then you can recompose and then you click the button all the way. I remember these conversations actually happening, you.

[Nikki Klosser]

Know, I mean that's how we all start, right? It's like, yeah, yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

What is this? Yeah, there's so much stuff, you know, it's like, okay, guys, we have a flash. The flash Says something like TT something. And they're like, ttl. So what is that? It's through the lens. I was like, no, it's not a lens, it's a flash. They're like, no, it's a technique on the flash. It gathers information through the lens. I was like, what? So we would stay till, till 9 o'clock at night, every night. We did that for like maybe four months. And then after that, I decided I wanted to be a full time photographer. I was so into it. Something hit me so hard, like, it hit me like a ton of bricks of how much I was enjoying it. My wife is like, are you coming home? And I was just like, I had just gotten married, by the way, like, literally three months before that. And I said, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be here till 9 o'clock. Can you just grab dinner somewhere? And she was like, oh, my God, like, how many days are you gonna do this? That lasted four months, like, of me staying late.

[Nikki Klosser]

You're like this. You're like, students. Sorry, students. I'm no longer your teacher because I'm gonna go be a photographer. And to Kim, your wife, you're like, oh, yeah, also, yeah, I'm gonna quit teaching. Like, how did that.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

You know, it went worse than that. I got a letter of congratulations by the principal saying because of your success as an educator in finance, accounting, economics and entrepreneurship, the state of Arizona awarded me full tenure.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh my gosh. Before you were supposed to get tenure?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

Wow.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Before I was supposed to get tenure, I got awarded full tenure, so. And if you don't know what tenure is, listening. I basically means you were guaranteed a job for life so the district could not fire you. Like, you would basically guarantee that job in that as an educator for the rest of your life until you're retired. And that is a huge honor. And I received that letter and instead of me screaming of happiness, I actually questioned myself, is this what I want to do or do I want to jump ship and be. Make a crazy decision and do photography? And I was just like, you have to live. You only live once. You know, yolo. So I was just like. I was like, okay, I think I'm going to do photography. I think I can use my marketing skills to get me there. And that was very true, by the way. I called the principal about a month later telling her that I was going to very gracefully reject the tenureship and I was going to actually quit teaching and that was going to be my last year. So I finished in May and She couldn't believe it. She was like, why? Like you just got tenure. Like people die for this. And I said, I'm going to go be a photographer. And she was like, what? I'm going to be. I want to be a photographer. I want to try to be a photographer. And she's like, you got to be kidding me right now.

[Nikki Klosser]

I know. I got the same responses when I was quitting my job. Totally.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Oh, it was bad. But this is the craziest thing that happened. I didn't have any jobs, but there was a bridal fair that came up in Tucson at the fancy resort called La Paloma. So I found out that a bridal fair was going to happen in about a month. Okay. And so I was like, okay, how much does it cost to get a booth at this bridal fair? And they said, it's 500 and it's for wedding. It's for. It was a bridal, bridal fair, you know. So I was like, okay, 500 was like a fortune. You might as well say $100,000. Okay. So I thought I told my wife, I'm going to spend $500. Remind you, I was a high school teacher and I was the only income earner in my household. My wife was still in college, so she was not working yet. So she goes like $500, how are we going to pay rent? And I was just like, we're going to pay the rent. I'm just going to spend 500. Okay. She's like, what are you going to show? You don't even have any portraits, any weddings. What are you going to. You're just going to show up with an empty table? And I said, no, but we have to just do it. So I did it. And then I couldn't find anyone that would hire me for their wedding because I was brand new. So nobody wanted to hire me. I started offering my services for free to people that were getting married and they still said no because they didn't want to risk their wedding photos to a person that's never shot a wedding and doing things for free.

[Nikki Klosser]

Right? Understandable, understandable.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

But the bridal fair was approaching. It was Tuesday. That Brad affair was on Sunday. So I only had six days, five days left before I had to put my booth. I paid $500 for. And finally somebody from Pennsylvania called and said that my sister in law recommended me as a photographer and that they understand that I've never done a wedding and I will do it for free. And I just want to do it for the experience and they said, we would like to give you that chance. I was like, are you kidding me? I was like, when is your wedding? Guess when the wedding was.

[Nikki Klosser]

When?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Saturday, the day before the bridal fair.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh my gosh, it was Saturday. So you had some work to do. Yeah, to get ready.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

So I went to the wedding. I shot the wedding. I shot the wedding horribly, but I shot the wedding. I took some pictures. It was horrible. I wish you guys could see the photos, that you guys would laugh from 2022 to 2026, you'll be laughing for four years straight. Okay? And I finished the wedding and I went to a 24 hour target and I had a little printer that I got from the store from Best Buy or something. And it was just a really crappy printer, but he printed 8 by tens. So I went home, I put my memory card and I printed like six or seven portraits of the bride in different angles so it looked like six different people. And I printed a photo of the reception and something like that and the groom. And I just tried to make it look like different things. And I went to the 24 hour target and they had some 8 by 10 pre made frames. And so I bought some of those and then I printed some price lists and I decided to make my prices so high that nobody would question my experience. This is part of my marketing. My marketing experience, right? So I went in the morning, I woke up exhausted and I went to my booth and he said, you know, Roberto Valenzuela Photography and a little piece of paper. Is that reserved? I pulled a piece of paper out and I put my frames from Target, like laying on little sticks, like just so that they could be held up. And I put my prices there and I booked 10 weddings.

[Nikki Klosser]

Oh my gosh. See, it gets worse.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It gets worse. I didn't have money to buy photography gear. I only had like one camera and a lens. And it was just like I actually used the camera and the lens from the school. I didn't even. I didn't even shoot my first wedding with my own camera.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, hey, why not, right?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Why not? Why not? So I went and I started. I started buying my own gear using the down payments from the people that were booking me for their weddings. Oh my God, what a nightmare. And so I did it. So that's how this entire thing just got started. You know, it's just the most insane, like the fact that I booked this wedding the day before the bridal fair. Like what? Like, you know, how lucky can you get, right?

[Nikki Klosser]

I mean, it just seems like, all the pieces were just there, and you just had to look for them. I don't even know.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I bet you if I would have priced my prices low because I was beginner, and therefore it would mean I don't believe in myself. And I bet you I would have booked nothing because my pictures were not good, but because my prices were high, I wasn't the highest, but I was high. I was probably in the 85 percentile of prices. Like, I was competing with the top photographers in Tucson in price, and I had only shot one wedding.

[Nikki Klosser]

You know, wow, that's some. That takes some balls right there. But the other thing, too, is that I know you said you got that wedding the day before or whatever, but you were looking for it. It wasn't just like someone knocked on your door. And that goes back to what you were saying before, like you were putting the word out that this is what you wanted.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

So it's. I feel like it's like, maybe a tiny bit of luck, but most of it is because, you know, you were putting it out there.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Thank you for making that point. Because I don't want people to think that they just have to sit there and get lucky. No, I was definitely calling everybody that I could. I even went to the jewelry store and said, do you guys have anybody that has gotten an engagement ring? And they were like, of course. They were like, can you please pass this out that I'm. I'll shoot to the wedding for free. I did that with the jewelry shops around town. Yeah, I couldn't do it. Look, I just couldn't. I. I'm sitting in my house, I'm a brand new photographer, nobody even knows me. How am I supposed to get a wedding booked? Please explain that to me. Of course, I had to get out there to the community and. And tell them, hey, I'm trying to book this wedding. I'm trying to get a wedding, blah, blah, blah, have a bridal fair. And. And to the stores, I said, I just want to create new material. That I wasn't going to say, you know, this is my first wedding ever, because they. They wouldn't recommend me. But I just said, I just want to create new material. Which is true. I was trying to create new material, you know, and develop and print the pictures in this little. If that little printer would have failed or it would have run out of ink, I would have been just, like, out of luck, you know?

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Yeah. I feel like you would have found a way. You would have found a way to work it out.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I Would have gone to Kinkos or something and gotten these pictures printed.

[Nikki Klosser]

Kinko's. Oh, yeah, Remember Kinko's?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I think I have a photo in my hard drives somewhere of me on my first booth ever. And I wish I could dig it up and show it to everybody listening to this podcast and you would understand. You would. Your. Your heart would just sink of the journey I was about to take from that booth. I mean, taking that booth was a big risk, but that's the other thing. You have to take a risk. You have to take chances, but don't take stupid risks. Like, yeah, yeah, I took risks because I took risks because I was educated in marketing and that I. And I believed in myself that I thought, okay. Also, my wife was about to graduate from college and she already had a job offer with Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson. So even if I would have failed, my wife's income would have taken us, Would have brought us back up to speed. So I'm not one of those speakers that's like, reach for your dreams and do stupid things and go get them and be blind by them. Because the universe will reward those who take risks. No, the universe rewards those that use their brain before they take risks. You know, please, please use your brain.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah, what you said there was key. It is important to take risks, but not stupid risks.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Not stupid risks. Like you have to take calculated risks, which is a difference. Yes, you know exactly. Know that your marketing skills can go a long way. Okay, why did I price myself high? Do you really want to hire a photographer who looks so cheap? And these are the memories you're going to hold dear and the most precious memories that you probably have of your life, and you want to put them in the hands of a photographer that charges $100 for a wedding? I don't think so. But if you hire a photographer that costs 2800. This is 20 years ago, right? If you hire photographer that costs $2800 and the best photographers in town cost 3000, you're probably going to think this guy is going to be at the level that you need for these very important memories to be taken, and they're going to be taken responsibly. And I did take my job very seriously, Nikki. Like, I wasn't taking my job lightly. I studied every photographer in the world that I could before I went to that wedding. I've never studied more. And I gotta tell you, this is another thing I'll tell you. The listeners, don't crowd your head with crappy pictures. It actually influences you the wrong way, influence your head with good photos. Like, look for great photographers and look at their work and fill your brain with those good pictures. Because even though there is something good about seeing bad photos, to see what not to do when you're on those learning stages, you kind of really want to just fill yourself with great photography. Like, what does it take to take those pictures? What is it about those photos that look good? Is it the emotion in the person's face? I was looking at wedding pictures back then, you know, is it about the. Is how is the lighting? Like, what's the composition? Is there storytelling in the foreground, middle ground and background? Or is it just a flat person, a person against the wall? Like, what are the techniques that they're using? But if you fill yourself with bad photos, that's what you're going to have in your head. And when you point your camera to your eye to take a picture, your brain will remember those bad photos because that's what you fill your brain with, and it's going to take bad photos. So you want to give yourself, Give your brain an injection of good photography and see what that looks like, you know?

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. I feel like we could talk forever. Like, this hour went by so fast. We'll have to have you back.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Oh, yeah. We can talk about so many topics. We can talk about entering the wedding industry or exiting the wedding industry, going into portraits and doing a studio versus no studio. We could talk all about business. I have three business degrees and I develop my business from scratch. We could talk about lighting, talk about posing. I mean, we could go. I. I'm so passionate about this. And if people are willing to listen, I'm willing to. I'm willing to share.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Awesome. Well, although we do have a million things we could talk about, just for time's sake, we have to wrap up. But I do have a couple questions that I always ask at the end of each episode. Will you. Can I ask you those?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It's 10 extra dollars per question, for sure.

[Nikki Klosser]

I'll give you. I'll give you $20.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Just kidding.

[Nikki Klosser]

All right, all right, all right. Number one is what is something you can't live without when you're doing a photo shoot?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

In a photo shoot, I can't live or I can't do my photo shoots if I don't like the clients. Yeah, I can't live without. I can't live without liking my clients. Like, I made a mistake in the past of taking the clients that paid me. And regardless of personality and a lot of people are not a good match for you. And now I just don't do it. In fact, having me shoot your wedding, it's almost impossible. But I really have to like you as a person, and then that makes me motivated to do a good job. You're putting so much of your heart and soul into these pictures that if you don't like the people or you don't feel compensated or you feel like they only paid you because you gave them a 50 discount and you just feel discounted and you don't feel appreciated, I can't work like that. So, yeah, how I handle discounts and people saying, all these other guys give me 50 discount. I always tell people I want to feel motivated to shoot your wedding the best I can. And if I give you 50 discount, I'm not going to feel fully motivated. Do you want that? And the answer is. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was like, it's impossible for me to go to your wedding and feel fully motivated when you are only hiring me because I was cheap or because you cheated my prices. You know, it doesn't. Psychologically, it just doesn't work.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

You know, and you're not being an asshole. Like, you're not saying, oh, I don't do discounts. You're not, you're not doing that. You're just saying, look, it is for your benefit for me to be motivated. Okay, so here are the prices. I'm willing to give you more value if I. If I can, but I. If you cheapen the prices that I'm giving you. After all the work I did to become a better photographer, I just don't. I don't want to go to your wedding and not be the best photographer I can be. And that pretty much closes that deal. So that's the answer to your question. I have to like my clients.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. It's a great answer. It really is. Makes such a difference.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yeah.

[Nikki Klosser]

All right. Number two is how do you spend your time when you're not working?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I need to take a break from photography. And because I was a classical guitarist, I bought a piano so I can learn a new instrument. So I bought like, a classical piano, like one of those little, like, nice ones, you know, And I'm learning that. And I'm also. I started building high performance helicopters. And. What? Yeah, they're remote control. They're like remote control ones, but they're really big. They're bigger than me. They're like six, seven feet long. And they are highly deadly if you make a mistake. On the, the motors are really quite large. So if you make a mistake on building it, like when the motor spin, you could really, like, the blade could fly off the, the handle and decapitate you. So you really have to like, pay attention. And, and when I do these things, I, I am so mentally invested in not making a mistake that it completely just allows me to not think of photography. And the most enjoyable one, which a lot of people have done during COVID is I started learning how to cook. But of course, when I say that, it's me talking, right? Like, I'm going all out. Like, I'm not just learning. I'm not like reading the recipes and replicating them. Like, I bought books on everything about an onion. Like, everything. How the onion is made, how to cook it, what are the styles, what are techniques, why is onion useful? What is the chemistry compound of an onion? What are different onions? What kind of onion colors changing? For example, white onions hold their, their integrity under their form when you saute them way better than like a shallot. A shallot is like a French, more like a French style onion. And, and it's very sweet and it's a sweeter on the palate, but it's, it disintegrates. So you would never use a shallot when you're trying to saute an onion. So you would use a white onion has the highest chemical structure. So I went bananas. My wife started, she would come home from work and there was a pile of books, literally 15 books on the chemistry of food and cooking and the French cooking. And oh my God, it got so intense because that's just the way my brain works. And she was just like, no, please, no.

[Nikki Klosser]

I feel like, okay, wait. I feel like we'd be a good team in this way because I am more of like a Jack Russell terrier where I'm like, I'm going to do this, this, then I'm jump to this. I'm going to jump to this. Like, we just, we just built. My husband built me a 20 by 24 foot garden and I have planted anything and everything. And now that it's all growing, I'm staring at it like, what the fuck do I do with it now? Like, whereas you like, prepare everything, you know, like, you learn about it all and then you dive in and I'm like, maybe I should have. Like, anyway, so I'm just constantly googling like when to harvest the onion. Like, like, well, you're doing the same thing though.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I mean, you're, I mean you're still exploring how to expand what you're doing. I mean, you're doing it.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. It's funny, though.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

If you're doing research on what to do next, then you're doing it.

[Nikki Klosser]

I mean, probably should have researched before I started.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I mean. No, I think that's part of. No, I. I don't agree with that. I think it's the journey that is so fun. Like, you have your garden and then you study. Okay, what do I do next? Hey, why is my plant brown? Or why is this one growing so well? What is up with the soil? Is the soil good? Like. Like, am I buying the wrong food? I mean, to me, your brain is such a beautiful thing. Oh, my God. I love having one. I love having one. I love having my brain. I wake up thanking God every day for having us. Our ability to learn. Oh, you know, like learning, learning, cooking has been so fun for me. I've learned to the highest level. I can go to the grocery store now, go to the vegetable aisle or go to the onions and look at them, and my brain just explodes with possibilities. Before, it used to just be, you know, an onion or it used to be like, rainbow carrots. And I'm like, okay, there's some rainbow carrots. And, you know, and I don't know, like, there's beets. You know beets. People buy beets and they're like, what? This is so weird looking. Why would you buy a beet? But now beats are so amazing and I can do so much with them. And I don't know, it's just. It's fun. It's fun. It's fun to learn. It's fun not to let your brain cells die.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I'm writing my seventh book on photography now, and I. And I love learning, even though I feel like I'm pretty comfortable in lighting. When you write a book, you realize how much you actually don't know.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

And you. You feel optimistic. Yeah. You fill up those gaps. I'm like, I did not. For example, I didn't know. This is embarrassing that I'm going to say this on the podcast, but here we go. I'm a Canon explorer of light, and I didn't know that Canon's optical flat optical slaves don't actually work with other optical slave units. So if you put your flash. If you are doing like a 3, 3 flash off camera flash setup. Okay. And you're doing. And you're triggering your flashes with optical line of sight. In other words, not a radio, not a transmitter, but optical line of sight. In canon, you have to use other cannon. Like the cannons that is firing has to be a cannon firing. And only cannon flashes can then receive that signal on fire. But I didn't know that. I thought if it was optical line of sight, it just meant that as soon as the sensor sees light, no matter where the light came from, it could be from your iPhone or whatever, it would trigger the flash to fire. But I just found out through doing research for my new book that, no, the light has to come from a cannon flash. And then those cannon flashes would trigger, you know, like what?

[Nikki Klosser]

Always learning. It's like, always learning. We never stop. Like, yeah, anyone who thinks they're done learning is crazy.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It's crazy. Not only crazy, but it's like, what a bummer.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. Yes. Totally a bummer.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It's like, I always feel bad for them. They're increasing, you know?

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

So Nick has been so fun to be here.

[Nikki Klosser]

Wait, wait. I have two more questions. Oh, sorry, I'm not done. Okay, number three.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Number three is.

[Nikki Klosser]

What's your favorite inspirational quote?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Well, I hate to say this because I made the quote myself, so it's kind of weird that I'm saying it.

[Nikki Klosser]

That's okay.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Okay, but here's the quote which has served me well. Use light, not just to illuminate, but to communicate.

[Nikki Klosser]

I like that. It's a good one, Roberto.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Thank you. That's a beautiful quote.

[Nikki Klosser]

It is definitely embarrassing.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I did it myself, so it's really stupid. I feel like an idiot saying it, but I came up with it. And I came up with it because I was trying to communicate something with light instead of just illuminating a subject. So I told myself, you know, really, lighting really is a means of communication, so it's not just a means of illuminating a subject, and then you can get a proper exposure. Like, there's more to it. So I said, you know, lighting should be used to communicate, not just to illuminate. Oh. And then when I said that in my brain, I was like, oh, my God, I gotta write this down.

[Nikki Klosser]

I love it. I love it. It's great.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Nerd.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay, last question is, where can people find you if they're looking for you online or in the bookstores?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Oh, guys, please. My Instagram sucks. I need you guys to follow me, please. I need more numbers. Like, I am just pathetic. When you see my instructions. Instagram. The word that comes to mind is pathetic. Okay, stop. No, seriously, it's so bad. Like, at the level that I met with being a Canon EOL and writing seven books, I should Be way higher and so low. Even people make fun of me. They're like, you have really bad numbers on your Instagram. I was like, I don't know. I don't have all day to spend on Instagram. I'm not 18 years old doing reels and spending 16 hours a day taking selfies of myself with dock clips. I just.

[Nikki Klosser]

I know.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I just can't. Like, I have a family. I have kids. I have so much going on. I'm lucky if I post a picture. So I have suffered from the social media thing, and I need help. And I think if more people follow me, I will be more motivated to do more stuff.

[Nikki Klosser]

More motivated? Yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I need more people to be like, right now. I check my stats on my Instagram and it says, you lost. I lose more followers than I gain every day.

[Nikki Klosser]

Sometimes I do, too. Well, I don't really check anymore. I just don't really care that much. But I check it. Yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

You know?

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah. I have seen. I'm like, wait a minute. I thought I was at, you know, 20,700. Now it's at 600. Yeah, it happens.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Oh, it's so bad. I was at 50.

[Nikki Klosser]

It's Roberto. Roberto. It's Roberto photo, right?

[Roberto Valenzuela]

No, it's Roberto Underscore Photo. So it's Roberto Underscore Photo. And yes, there's 48,000, but it should be like a hundred thousand by now, for God's sake.

[Nikki Klosser]

And your website is.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

It's just. My name is robertovalenzuela.com.

[Nikki Klosser]

Okay, perfect.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

And if they want to look into my books, I would recommend buying them through the publisher so they can do better, you know, Rocky Nook or a Pearson. But if you just don't want to deal with it, you can just go to Amazon and you can just search for books. I have three wedding books that just came out. Wedding Storyteller, Volume one, Wedding Storyteller, Volume two, which is very sad that nobody's buying that book. And it's, like, one of the best books I've ever written. And the third one is called the Successful Professional Photographer, which I really think everybody should read it. That book, the last book, the Successful Professional Photographer. I'm not saying that because I want people to buy the book. I'm saying that because I really think it would benefit you. It talks about the psychology of why people hire a photographer versus another. It talks about the psychology of prices. It talks about the psychology of how do you set a price list and show it to your clients. It talks about all these things that people if they knew it, it would change everything on how you go about your own business.

[Nikki Klosser]

But awesome.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Unfortunately, people don't read as much these days.

[Nikki Klosser]

Yeah.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

So the book stays idle. Like my, the book sales on the book are low, which is sad. I'm like, this is crazy because it's a book.

[Nikki Klosser]

Well, hopefully people listen to this and buy it. We'll see. You'll have to let me know.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I will let you know.

[Nikki Klosser]

Awesome.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Yeah. So, yeah. Oh my God. This has been great. Any more questions, Nikki? Anything else?

[Nikki Klosser]

No, we're good to go. We'll have to have you back though, because I know you have so much more to share and teach and. Yeah, it's been great. Thank you, Roberto. Like I said, this is a long time coming, so I'm glad we finally did it.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

I know we talked about it in WCPI at WCPI and it finally happened, so. And thank you for inviting me. Thank you for sue for allowing me on her podcast and thank you to Vincent for producing the podcast. Everybody. Thank you. Thank you for listening and see you next time.

[Nikki Klosser]

Awesome. Thanks, Roberto.

[Roberto Valenzuela]

Okay, take care. Bye.

[Nikki Klosser]

Thank you so much for listening to the Portrait System podcast. Your 5 star reviews really help us to continue what we do. So if you like listening, would you mind giving us a review wherever you listen? I also encourage you to head over to sue brice education.com where you can find all of the education you need to be a successful photographer. There are over 1000 on demand educational videos on things like posing, lighting, styling, retouching, shooting, marketing, sales, business and self value. There's also the 90 day startup challenge, plus so many downloads showing hundreds of different poses. We have to do checklists for your business, lighting, PDFs, I mean truly everything to help make you a better photographer and to make you more money. Once again, that's Sue Bryce education dot com.