So, we know that having a blog on your website is really good for your SEO and helping with how findable you are on google ... so here we go with a regular blog. Says me, who whilst having a degree in English, has absolutely no desire in writing blogs lol, so you'll have to excuse that I'm going to keep this fairly informal. And whilst the purpose of writing this blog
is (no shame) in the interest of promoting
our business, it's actually a really good opportunity to impart some advice, knowledge ... wisdom? (At what point does knowledge become wisdom??) As we've really started getting around, we've picked up a lot of behind the scenes tips and info, especially with wedding photography. What better way to share that information than with a blog?! Things to consider on your big day like considering what lighting your DJ has, where the groom is getting ready, where to put your cake and even the importance of aesthetically pleasing coat hangers! So we have all that to come. But for our first blog I think this is good opportunity to introduce us and who we are, where we started and where we're going ...(other than world domination!)
An Intro to Us
This is us! (that nice looking couple in the picture, winning first place in our first carnival I might add!). Whilst Simon has been shooting weddings, nightclub photography and all sorts of other stuff for almost 10 years, I (Jodie) have too, but more as a hobby. I officially went self employed in 2019, did a few weddings on my own and had absolutely no interest in doing any more. *In walks Simon 2020* shot my first wedding as his 2nd shooter and found my home.
We both had our own businesses at this point and as we did more together and ...hem... fell in love and shacked up together, who got the work that came in became very messy. So we closed our old businesses and formed Dover Media Group. Not long later we found a run down little shop on London Road, Dover and decided that, 'yeah we can give up the next 6 months of our life renovating it into a photography studio!'. Cue many tantrums, despite Simon's protests, he can indeed plaster an infinity wall... I probably wouldn't hire him for your own though. But fast forward to January 2022 and it was ready!
This year has been crazy in how quickly the business has grown, it transformed from something that had potential, into supporting both of us, full time. It was perhaps a bit ambitious to think that would all happen in our first official year though, so as wedding season came to an end, Simon has had to find work back in Mechanics again, whilst I keep the rest of the business going. Who knows what the future holds, we'll stay realistic but I'm feeling really positive that the future isn't done with both of us doing our thing together full time.
Our Tribe
Anyone that knows us knows that Simon and I are both social beings that crave doing things we enjoy. If you haven't seen it; we set up Kent Social Shooters on Facebook, originally because of how important it was to us. We figured if it was important to us being around like minded people, it might be to others too. But over the last couple of years it's become more than that, whilst regrettably the group doesn't always see the amount of activity we would like it to, mostly because we've found that unless we organize something, a lot of the time nothing does get organized, which can be hard work when we have been as busy as we have. But that aside we have learnt over the last year how important it is that photographers work together and not against each other.
Our approach isn't to look at the next photographer like they're competition, they are most certainly our allies! There is enough work for all of us, and we all have our own styles and approaches. We've grown an amazing network of friendships in the industry, some of which have grown to be our closest friends. We have officially found our tribe.
The friendships that we have made has not only helped us personally, but also helped our business to grow. For which we will always be grateful. As we have been helped so much in starting out, we actively seek to do the same for others. Yes we're aware that hiring our studio out at a measly £10 an hour barely covers the heating! But we want our studio be accessible to everyone, and not only give photographers and other content creators the indoor space locally to do their thing, but encourage people that would otherwise never have used a studio environment before.
Free to Students & Loan Box
With the above in mind we trialed over the summer the studio being free to students. Which whilst didn't have a massive uptake, it had enough. And so we decided to carry it on all year round. Hands up, having the work experience girls was my professional highlight of the year! I have a long standing ambition to have apprentices as soon as we are earning enough to have them. Probably born out of growing up in a small corner of the country with little to no opportunities in the creative sector.
And from the free to students, was born the loan box. Working on the same principle of booking out a library book, we have a box of photography treasures that is free to loan out. Don't get me wrong a lot of it is old starter equipment, but in letting people know what we were doing, there goes that amazing support we've had again! We had tons of donations of old photography equipment that people didn't use anymore. Which for students and amateurs, is all they need :)
In summary for our first blog ... It's been an amazing first official year in Business for Dover Media Group, we love our little photography community and we can't wait to see where else Dover Media Group goes!
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