26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, but would not buy it again, June 8, 2009
This review is from: Fast Track Photographer: The Definitive New Approach to Successful Wedding Photography (Paperback)
It has been quite a while since I read through the book, and I haven't felt the urge to go through it again. On the plus side, while many books on the business use outdated references and images, Fast Track is definitely written for today's photographer. I also appreciate that it is about business and not photographic technique, equipment, etc. I enjoyed reading the author's story ad even his overview of the different kinds of wedding photography businesses. What I don't love is the P-DNA concept; like any magazine-style personality quiz it presents you with a number of choices/preferences (which may or may not apply to you). I found it difficult to relate to some of the questions, which weren't always worded very well/clearly. So in the end, I ended up choosing the least false options, rather than the ones that were most true (hope that makes sense). After taking the PDNA, you get a result which is supposed to tell you what kind of photographer you are, and you're encouraged to retake it every year for $20 or so.
It might work well for some people, but even though I give Sanders an "A" for effort (b/c to my knowledge, no one else has attempted to create something like this) , I still think that the PDNA is poorly designed. I'm even not sure that it could have been better, as these sorts of questionnaires are inherently limited anyway. We're all unique. It helps to look at others' experience, but most people find success by learning from others, making mistakes AND forging our own paths--NOT by simply adopting others' techniques and business practices before evaluating how well they will work for us. For instance, Sanders really sells the idea of outsourcing many time-consuming tasks--and file processing/editing/retouching in particular--in order to focus on marketing, finding customers, etc. I think that it's wise and necessary to spend the most time on what you do best, but I don't think that everyone will need to outsource the same things. And I don't think that you're necessarily harming your business by doing your own editing or album design. In other words, you still have to figure out what works best for you, your business and your customers.
No one tool, book, seminar etc. can give you all of the answers, so I'm glad that this has been helpful to many others starting out. It did give me some ideas, and insight into different personality traits, business models, etc. But when I need to move beyond the philosophy and into the practicalities of running a photography business, I've found The Business of Studio Photography by Edward Lilley (there's a 2009 edition now) and Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington to be great resources....Glen Johnson's Digital Wedding Photography is also a wonderful book about wedding photography. The Strategy Avenue program by Laura Novak also gives you some good tools when developing a vision and plan for your business.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent book, but not in the Kindle version, March 23, 2009
This is a very fine book, written by an obviously intelligent and thoughtful guy. I agree with other reviewers about the book and especially its applicability to professions far distant from wedding photography, BUT ... If you want to get the full benefit of the book, DON'T buy the Kindle version! Two problems; one annoying and the other serious: First, the formatting for the Kindle is about like a text file dumped into a word processor. The chapters run together, there are no links from the table of contents to the locations in the text of the book, and the tables (important tables to understand the main point of the book) are totally unusable. Second, the whole book orients itself around a concept he calls "pDNA" which others have discussed. With a print copy of the book you get a code which allows you onto the website which the book describes as an essential part of the book. You don't get the code with the Kindle edition, and they (the author's website) won't give it to you if you ask and explain that you bought the Kindle edition of the book. You can buy the code from the website for $20. That makes your $9.99 Kindle book cost $29.99. There is now a warning on their website that you don't get the code with the e-book, but you do with the print or audio versions. I don't know if that was added after my complaint or before. It was not a part of the advertisement for the Kindle version.
So, it's a really fine book, but the e-book version is incomplete and defective.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth it, don't understand all the high raves and reviews, May 9, 2009
This review is from: Fast Track Photographer: The Definitive New Approach to Successful Wedding Photography (Paperback)
I had high hopes for this book, after reading all the glowing reviews. At the end of the day, it is the same thing written over and over. I was really hoping for a real insight into ideas and techniques for wedding photography business. Instead, it is just a rambling of your typical feel good, small business "go for it" ramblings. There are one or two "real life" stories over a few pages which are nice, but, they're never expanded on. I read the whole thing in a couple of hours, and walked away with no new insight or ideas into expanding or adjusting my business. Too much talk about "pDNA" and blah blah blah. Don't waste your time or money.
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