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INTRODUCTION TO MAKING

MONEY PHOTOGRAPHING
PEOPLE AND PETS

~Special E-book Edition~

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includ bo ok, T he Se c
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classic p $ 2 ,9 70.00 P h o to
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come on in 

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Special note — all material
in this book is copyrighted by
Pam and Jeff Farr. You may
print out a copy for your own
use. You may not otherwise
copy, modify, distribute or
use this book in any other
way without permission.
Thanks!...and enjoy!...

 IMPORTANT NOTICE AND LEGAL DISCLAIMER


Not Your Normal School of Photography division of Old Barn Enterprises, Inc.
The information provided on in this and other materials offered is for educational
purposes only and is offered “as is.”
While effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the authors, Old Barn Enter-
prises, Inc., and their affiliates accept no responsibility for any damages caused
by any inaccuracies or from use of the information provided.
Furthermore, no guarantees of income are intended or made. As with any en-
deavor, each individual will have varying experiences and degrees of success.
Each individual must, therefore, make his or her own judgment as to the fitness
and appropriate use of any information provided. Authors make no representation
and accept no liability for use of any information provided.
Testimonials and comments depicting specific results are not typical. Each
person’s experience and results can, and do, vary.
Information is provided with the understanding that the authors are not engaged
in the practices of law or accounting. Should advice be needed in these areas, a
competent professional should be consulted.

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Turn your love of photography, people,
and pets into a lucrative career...
First off, thanks for your interest and taking the time to download this book
and actually reading it! Believe it or not, simply taking that action puts you
in an elite class — not too many people even take the slightest step towards
their dreams. So I am honored to “meet” a fellow “doer.”

Oh — I almost forgot — I guess I should introduce myself before we get too


far into this. My name is Jeff Farr and my wife’s name is Pam. As you’ll see,
Pam’s a very good people and pet photographer and her business was the
original inspiration for the book, “The Secret of Making $2,970.00 In One
Weekend Photographing People and Pets.”

Over the years, the printed version of The Secret of Making $2,970.00
In One Weekend Photographing People and Pets has inspired over
20,000 photographers. In fact, I’ve had people tell me they’ve read it
as many as dozen times, and they’ve carried the “little yellow book”
with them everywhere they go! And it’s true that the more you read it,
the more it “sinks in,” and the more you realize the power of the
simple, but critical, concepts that are presented.

The original

Secret of Making
$2,970.00 In One
Weekend Photo-
graphing People
and Pets...

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The original “little yellow book” is out of print, but now,

thanks to the modern miracle of


e-books, The Secret Of Making
$2,970.00 In One Weekend lives on...
Really, I was going to retire the book and “ride off into the sunset” ~ but ~
after taking a look at it, and discussing it with a few people, I realized that...

(1) — there wasn’t much that needed changing and


(2) — there were still a lot of people who would be helped by it

Since the printed version was done and gone (and I had no desire to deal
with another “print run”), the Secret of Making $2,970.00 In One Weekend
Photographing People and Pets e-book was born!

Technology may change, and the “delivery vehicle” may change,


but certain core principles, like the ones you’ll find in The Secret of
Making $2,970.00 In One Weekend Photographing People and
Pets, don’t.

In fact, sometimes, when your ideas are “ahead of their time,” it’s a
GOOD THING when “the times” catch up a little bit. That’s certainly
the case here. These days, it’s much easier to set up a business
that enables you to work where you want and when you want
than it was when Pam and I first started doing it. And it’s also much
easier to set up systems that allow you to have pre-sold clients
automatically calling you. MOST PEOPLE STILL DON’T REALIZE
THIS, BUT THE DOOR IS WIDE OPEN FOR THOSE THAT DO!

So, welcome to the “party”...thanks to modern technology, auto-


mating our businesses, so we can concentrate on doing the things
we like to do, is now easier than ever!

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OK, A FEW “HOUSEKEEPING” NOTES — I’ve left most of the book the
way it was originally written way back in 1997 because most of it is as rel-
evant and inspiring today as on the day it was written.

Pam, of course, no longer makes a measly $2,970.00 in one week-


end (her session fees have jumped up a bit!), and some of the techno-
details of what we do have changed (yes, we went digital a few years
ago), but those are minor changes, and do not affect the true “se-
crets” of making large chunks of money in short periods of time
photographing people and pets! Pam and I have, by the way, set
up a special website for you to get updates to this book —
www.NYNphotoschool.com/updates.htm — but please do read the
book first!

I’ve also left the photographs in black and white as they were originally
printed in the book, although the original photos as taken by Pam, were in
color.

There are a few reason for this which aren’t worth getting into (ok — I was
lazy, I didn’t want to dig out the old negatives and scan them, it would have made
this book even larger to download — and besides — Pam’s stuff looks good in
black and white anyway!), however, if you do want to see some of Pam’s
work in full glorious color you can see it at www.NYNphotoschool.com/
gallerypam.htm.

The only changes I’ve made to the book are minor — fixing typos and
things like that — and of course, I’ve enlarged the type and page sizes to
make everything “e-book” friendly. The Secret of Making $2,970.00 In One
Weekend Photographing People and Pets now reads well both on a com-
puter screen and printed on paper (that choice is up to you — I personally
prefer to read printed pages and you’re welcome to print a copy this book [or
have it printed at a copy shop] for your personal use. If you have it 3-hole punched,
it fits nicely into a ½-inch 3 ring binder!)

And now, relax and enjoy, The Secret Of Making $2,970.00 In One Week-
end Photographing People And Pets!!!...

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Photographically yours,

Pam and Jeff Farr


co-founders, Not Your Normal School of Photography

Pam and Jeff Farr... this photo was taken by our


youngest student — a 10-year old! No, we didn’t set
this shot up, she did, and yes, she did real paying
sessions with real clients!
For details on how we quickly and easily taught a
10-year how to do real paying sessions visit us at
www.NYNphotoschool.com/updates. But first, please
read The Secret Of Making $2,970.00 In One Week-
end Photographing People And Pets!

Necessary legal stuff, please read — This publication is designed to provide


accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter cov-
ered. It is provided with the understanding that the authors and publisher
are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional ser-
vice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a
competent professional person should be sought. NOTE: No guarantees of
income or profits are intended by this book. Many variables affect each
individual’s results. Not Your Normal photography is a registered trade-
mark and division of Old Barn Enterprises, Inc. ©2005 Pam and Jeff Farr.
All rights reserved. May not be copied by any means without permission.

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Special intro from Pam...

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“HOW I MAKE $2,970 IN A WEEKEND,
PRETTY MUCH WHENEVER I WANT TO,
.
tm

AND HOW YOU CAN DO THE SAME...”

Dear fellow photographer,


It’s really a great feeling to know you can pick up your camera (film or digital!) and
make close to THREE GRAND IN A COUPLE OF DAYS, photographing people and pets,
— pretty much whenever you want to — and all while working from your home.
But I have to tell you, while the money is nice, the best part is being able to make it doing
something you love doing. (Absolutely, I love what I do, and more importantly—MY
CLIENTS LOVE IT.)
It’s funny, a short while ago, my husband, Jeff, was talking to another local photographer
who was complaining about how there were “too many photographers in the area.” I
hadn’t noticed. And I don’t care how many photographers move into the area because I’ve
developed a style of photography that people are literally lined up for. I have a waiting
list. When I want to do some work, I let people know, and my sessions book up instantly.
Pretty nice, and I’ll show you how to do the same thing.
O.K., we may have a waiting list...but here’s what we don’t have — a full-time studio with
constant overhead and fixed working hours. We don’t have employees. And we don’t have
a yellow pages ad or a business phone. For that matter, we don’t have just about every-
thing everyone says you need in order to have a vibrant business. Jeff and I will show you
how to get started without all those things, too. We’ll even show you how you can get all
the business you want without spending hardly any money on advertising.

I really hope you’ll take a look at the enclosed book carefully. I know it sounds
corny, but what I have to share with you could very well be a turning point in
your life. You have an opportunity to build a business (doing something you
love doing) around your life-style — instead of letting your business — or your
job — dictate to you how to live. And you don’t have to quit doing anything you’re
doing now, to get started. You can start like I did, part time, in our basement,
with a borrowed camera.

By the way, the $2,970 is what I make photographing people and pets in one weekend (2
days). I gave you that figure in case you’re thinking of starting out part-time, like I did (I
was working as a flight attendant when I first started doing this). However, because I no
longer have a “normal” job, I usually tack on a few sessions Friday and Monday (after-

8 (over)
noons & evenings) which brings the total up to $4,950. But that’s not all, because it’s not
uncommon to sell another $1,000 in reprints...in total, about $6,000 for one “batch” of
sessions.
Now, I want to tell you up front (you can always count on getting the straight scoop from
us), that besides the actual photographing, you’ll need to spend some time putting the
session packages together. This can be done easily during the week, or on “off” week-
ends and, to me, this is one of the most enjoyable and relaxing parts of the business. You
can do it when you feel like it (I always tell my clients it’ll be 3 weeks until they get their
package) — you can watch TV or play music while you “work” — and there’s certainly
no dress code.
You should also know that when you first start out, you may not be able to charge as
much as I do (although some have started out charging more). Like anything worth
doing, you’ll have to start at the beginning — only in this case — we will help you to leap
frog to the top as quickly as possible.
So enough of the introductions, it’s time to get to the “meat of the matter.” I know you’re
anxious to find out how you can make $2,970 in one short weekend photographing
people and pets and I am just as excited to tell you about it. The enclosed book will
explain everything to you, including how I got started, how you can follow in the same
path — in a fraction of the time it took me (this is the information I wish I had when I
started) — and why I’m now willing to part with my hard-won trade secrets.
Photographically yours,

Pam Farr, Not Your Normal photographer


P.S. The book is written by my husband, Jeff, who put together the automatic paint-by-
numbers-near-zero-cost marketing system that caused my business to go from a very
low, almost-had-to-get-a-real-job, level to having to turn people away. (Being a great pho-
tographer without being a great marketer won’t do you any good!) Jeff’s marketing sys-
tem, plus my unique style of photography, is the perfect way to get started making money
doing what you love to do!(or expand your business if you’re already a working pro!)
P.P.S. During one batch of mini-sessions, I actually had someone call up for a photo
session and say “I don’t care what it costs.” I’ll have to admit, that was fun to hear. Take a
look at the enclosed special report. It will put you on the path to having the same thing
happen to you!

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$19.95

THE SECRET OF
MAKING $2,970.00
IN ONE WEEKEND
PHOTOGRAPHING
PEOPLE AND PETS...

Text by by Jeff Farr


Photos by Pam Farr

.
tm

PHOTOGRAPHY

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THE SECRET OF MAKING
$2,970.00 IN ONE SHORT WEEKEND
TAKING PICTURES OF
PEOPLE AND PETS
✔ Work from your home,
studio, or on location...
✔ Be open when you want...
✔ Use marketing secrets that’ll have
pre-sold customers calling you!
YOU DO NOT NEED
TO HAVE PREVIOUS
EXPERIENCE TO DO THIS
This is the perfect business to unleash
and develop your creativity;
build your confidence!
Plus, even if you decide not to do this as a
business, you’ll still discover how to
vastly improve your photography
and win the ADORING ADMIRATION
of friends, relatives, and
business associates...

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Dedicated to all aspiring photographers
(whether you’ve been shooting for
5 minutes or 50 years!)
who are not afraid to venture forth,
unleash their creativity,
and live the life of their dreams.
—Jeff Farr

NOTE: ORIGINAL PHOTOS ARE IN GLORIOUS COLOR

YOU CAN START RIGHT NOW BY THROWING


ALL YOUR OLD TIRED IDEAS ABOUT POR-
TRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY OUT THE WINDOW!...

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PICTURES
LIKE THESE
WILL MAKE
YOU MONEY.
Yes, the dog in
the presents
took some
patience (that’s
why you’ll be
getting the big
bucks), but it’s
NOT really that
hard when you
know the simple
tricks!

By the way, the type of picture shown above can generate a lot of re-
print ($$$) orders for Christmas cards!

The photo shown below is Pam’s “toboggan pose.” She uses it in various
forms constantly. A top key to success in this business is having an “ar-
senal” of poses that are easy to learn, set up, and attract clients willing
to pay you top dollar for your knowledge and skill.

NOTE: ORIGINAL PHOTOS ARE IN GLORIOUS COLOR,


TO SEE PAM’S WORK IN COLOR VISIT WWW.NYNPHOTOSCHOOL.COM/GALLERYPAM.HTM

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CHAPTER ONE
How exaggerated is this $2,970.00 in one
weekend — pretty much whenever I want
to — working out of my home or studio?
I suppose it sounds a little outrageous to someone not here,
not seeing it first hand. But $2,970.00 is, in fact, what my wife
Pam earns in one “short” weekend taking pictures of people
and pets, and I’m convinced that anyone with a strong inter-
est in photography, and the dedication to follow her example,
can do the same thing. Even if you are not now an accom-
plished photographer.
As you look through our materials, and some of Pam’s pic-
tures, please keep in mind that Pam started from zero. No
matter where your abilities are now, they can’t possibly be
lower than Pam’s when she started — with no training, in our
basement, using the cheapest equipment and materials we
could find. So put “I can’t do this” out of your mind right
now!
On the flip side, if you’re an accomplished photographer,
maybe with your own studio, and you’re thinking “I can do
all this already,” can you? Do you? Make close to 3 grand in a
couple of days when you want to? Take months off if you want
to? Work out of your home if you want to? Do you have wait-
ing list of people anxious to have you take their pictures for a
large fee?
$2,970.00 in a “short” weekend...
The reason I mentioned a “short weekend” — a Saturday and
Sunday — is because I know most people will start this part

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time. Pam, however, rarely just books up a weekend. Instead,
She prefers to do her sessions in larger blocks and then take
larger amounts of time off in-between.
For example, as I write this, we are accepting reservations
for her next block of sessions which will consist of 6 sessions
on one weekend (Pam will only do 3 sessions per day, tops),
5 sessions during the following weekdays (1 per day), and
6 sessions the next weekend. Only five days ago, I sent out
210 invitations for these sessions and so far we have 12
bookings. Pam charges $495 per session, so that’s $5,940.00
worth of business — so far. Yesterday, I mailed out another
191 invitations.
All in all, if we book Pam solid, which is a sure bet, we will
take in $8,415, plus reprint orders, which could bring the
total to over $10,000. It doesn’t take a financial genius to
figure out that we can do this as little as every other month
and still make a nice living — especially when you consider
that we don’t have studio expenses and our advertising and
promotional costs are next to nothing. More on that later.
Now, as much as I’d like to, I can’t promise you’ll do as well
as Pam does. Your success will depend on you and what you
do with the information we give you.
What I can promise is that I will tell you the truth about what
we do, give you the tools you need to be successful — all laid
out for you in a clear and concise way — so you can put them
to immediate use.
I can also guarantee you won’t find this information
anywhere else. Pam’s sessions and our marketing of them
is unique — knowledge of what we do and how we do
things gives you an extreme competitive advantage in the
marketplace.

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No one starts at the top,
but everyone at the top got started!
At this point in time, Pam is a top level photographer who is
well-known and in demand in our area — but — it wasn’t
always that way.
Pam started out knowing nothing and I can assure you her
first photo sessions were less than good. And while she is
confident of her abilities now, it wasn’t too long ago her “pre-
session nervousness” gave her severe gastrointestinal upset
before every session.
So I don’t want you to think that Pam is some one-in-a-billion
creative genius that one day magically started doing this.
Quite to the contrary, it’s been a long hard road with lots of
screw-ups. One of the reasons we’re able to teach you so ef-
fectively and short cut your path to the top, is because at
some point on our climb, we’ve been right where you are now.
What you want will determine what you get!
In many ways, the way you operate your photo business will
be determined by the life-style you want to live.
When we started our photography business, “Not Your Nor-
mal photography,” the first thing we did was to sit down and
make a list of how we wanted our life-style to be, so we could
design the business to accommodate it.
This is extremely important and I strongly suggest you do the
same. Most people let their businesses and jobs determine
how they live rather than the other way around.
You now have the opportunity to get it right — the way you
want — because the information we’ll provide can be bent,
shaped, and molded to your life in virtually any way you like.

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For example, here’s what was important to us...our
“requirements” for going into business...
•We didn’t want to work all the time, only when we
wanted to.
•We wanted (within reason) to take off whenever we felt like
it. Nice day? — go out and play!
•We didn’t want the hassles and expense of owning a
studio and having a business phone. And we didn’t want
employees.
•We didn’t want people calling and bugging us for stuff we
don’t do — like weddings.
•We didn’t want to do any sales. No cold call “telemarketing,”
no having to sell people when they called in, no trying to
“upsell” people into large reprint orders.
Sounds like an absurd bunch of demands, doesn’t it?
Well, we finally got what we wanted! The only absurd part
was all the work and trial and error that went into figuring
out how to get to the “easy part.” And that’s why I wrote this
book, to help you get to the “easy part” infinitely quicker than
we did.
Now I realize your goals and our goals might not be quite the
same. You may want a studio with employees and the whole
bit. Perhaps you want to own a chain of studios and become
fabulously wealthy instead of just making a nice living
working part-time.
If that’s the case, you’re still on the right track. The photo-
graphic and business techniques we teach will help you
become as big or as small as you want to be.
You can make a great living doing this,

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but this is not just about money
Over the years, probably just like you, I’ve sent for a lot of
“opportunities.” And to my disappointment, the “make
money with your camera deal” often turns out to be some
boring routine having little to do with real photography. I
don’t know about you, but selling medical IDs, or taking pic-
tures of houses for real estate agents, is not my idea of cre-
ative photography. If I’m going to have do stuff like that to
make a living, what the hell, shoot me right now and get it
over with.
There’s just no substitute for doing something you love
doing — you simply feel better, have more energy, — you
even need less sleep because you can’t wait to get up in
the morning...
By reading this book, you are taking an important first step to
making a living doing what you love to do. What we will teach
you is fun, creative, and doable, not one of those “mirage”
opportunities that only looks nice from a distance...
I just want to say one thing about the various “opportuni-
ties” out there. It’s about what I call “the dream” that is
sold over and over again. It pops up in various forms, but
the one that sticks out in my mind the most is the guy
who took a picture of the Dallas skyline and made huge
amounts of money from it. You probably know the one.
Of course, no doubt, the story is true. But it’s also true
that the picture was a fluke, and not easily repeated,
which is why it made all that money. That way of making
money — going out and taking pictures and then trying
to sell them to agencies, magazines, galleries, at art fairs,
you name it — is a hard road to take, difficult to system-

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ize, glutted with competition, and inherently unreliable
as a steady source of income.
Artists, authors, musicians and photographers all fall
prey to “the dream” which is used by marketers to sell
books and equipment — it’s the dream that you will be
“discovered,” that your work will be sought after by mil-
lions, that you will spend your life in tropical paradises
taking pictures of beautiful models.
The truth is, that does happen, but how often? The world is
swimming in great photography. You can buy CD roms
packed full of it. Practically every art and street fair has
photographers — good photographers — trying to sell their
work. Go to any bookstore, check out all the great work in
calendars, books, and magazines, and ask yourself, “Do I
really want to compete with this to make a living?”
That’s not to say you shouldn’t try achieving “the dream.”
As a photographer and a graphic artist, I’ve taken that
route as a “back burner” project and now it looks like
some of my work may be carried in several retail chains
nationwide and, of course, I’m thrilled.
But even as good as that sounds, the money is unreliable,
slow to arrive, and probably won’t be enough to live on
(lots of markups between me and the consumer). It’s just not
something you would want to rely on to get you started
and provide you with a steady stream of cash. For that,
you need...
The power of a starving crowd
In his high-priced ($7,000+) seminars, marketing expert Gary
Halbert asks “If I were to set you up in the fast food business
and give you one advantage, what would it be?

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Some will say “A secret sauce,” “A good location,” or “Lowest
prices.”
Gary Halbert says he’d want “a starving crowd.”
LEARN HOW TO FIND AND FEED A STARVING CROWD
AND YOU’LL NEVER GO HUNGRY — ...let that sink in for
a second... — because that’s the key to what we do; what
makes it all work. We have found a starving crowd and devel-
oped a systematic, repeatable way to “feed” it. Forget having
to push your pictures into a saturated market, these people
are ready and waiting for you to provide them with what they
want — what we will show you how to produce.
I wish you could have been at the “pet parade” benefit for the
Humane Society who had asked Pam if she would display her
photos. (We don’t usually do those kinds of events, but find it hard to
say no to the Humane Society!) There must have been a dozen
other booths there — with no one around them because they
were all crowded around Pam “oohing and aaahing” — and
generally going nuts — over her pictures. And it’s like that
every time someone sees them.
It’s truly amazing to watch the reactions. And I know Pam
loves the rave revues she gets. But, this is not a book about
Pam, it’s about you and how YOU CAN HAVE YOUR OWN
STARVING CROWD SURROUNDING YOU, giving you very
nice chunks of money to take pictures of their family and
pets.
Yes, you can learn to take the kinds of pictures shown in this
book and yes, people will pay you well to take them. And yes,
we will show you how to do it every step of the way.
If you are totally “chomping at the bit” to get going, you
can skip the next chapter if you like, but I do think you’ll

20
find it interesting. It’s about how Pam and I got started
and how we got to where we are now. You’ll see that we
are just regular people who, partly by accident and partly
by design, came up with a very nice way of earning a liv-
ing that’s fun and fits our life-style, and there is no reason
on earth why you can’t duplicate our success...

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Showing relation-
ships and intimacy
are key elements of
Not Your Normal
photography®

NOTE: ORIGINAL PHOTOS ARE


IN GLORIOUS COLOR,
TO SEE PAM’S WORK IN COLOR
VISIT
WWW.NYNPHOTOSCHOOL.COM/
GALLERYPAM.HTM

Pam uses only


white or black
backdrops.
This keeps the
photos clean and
simple, makes
the people (or
the pets) the
stars, and has a
side benefit of
keeping your
backdrop
expenses low!

How could you even think of not doing this business when there
are skads of wonderful children like this, close to where you
live, along with parents who will pay you well?

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THE MARKET FOR
CHILD PHOTOGRAPHY IS INSATIABLE
I don’t care where you live, you’ll be able to find people who will pay
you well to take the kinds of pictures you see here.

Our home study course tells in detail how you can take, market, and
profit, from these kinds of pictures.

NOTE: ORIGINAL PHOTOS ARE IN GLORIOUS COLOR,


TO SEE PAM’S WORK IN COLOR VISIT WWW.NYNPHOTOSCHOOL.COM/
GALLERYPAM.HTM

23
CHAPTER TWO
How a complete lack of formal training
led to the discovery of Not Your Normal
Photography® and how the simple gift of a
camera led to Love, Happiness, Truth,
Justice, and The American Way
In 1983, Pam was working as a flight attendant for TWA, and
had absolutely no idea she had any photographic abilities.
She didn’t even own a camera.
However, the idea of getting one started to “cross her mind”
while visiting a flight attendant friend of hers in Kansas City.
(Her friend had just bought a Canon “Sure-Shot” — one of the first
“point and shoot” cameras that actually did a credible job of taking
pictures.)
When Pam got home to Chicago, she told me about the Sure-
Shot and that she was thinking of buying one. We were just
starting to date, so I thought I’d score some points, and sug-
gested that, instead, she borrow a “real camera” — my 35mm
SLR — and see if she liked it.
As it turned out, Pam had a great time with my camera taking
shots around her house. Of course, still being early in our rela-
tionship I was quite complimentary on her work (actually, her
pictures weren’t bad for someone just starting out!). This was all
Pam needed to go wild taking pictures. This period of our lives
is very well documented!
For her birthday (and because I wanted my camera back!), I
bought her a used camera and a zoom lens. (I know, it’s a

24
darned nice birthday present, but I definitely scored some points
with that one!)
Over the next few months, Pam continued to take a lot of pic-
tures, mostly of her dog and cats. From time-to-time, she’d
take them to work (TWA) to show her flight attendant friends,
and somewhere along the line, one of them asked Pam to take
pictures of their kids.
Now, up to this point, taking pictures professionally was the
furthest thing from Pam’s mind, and she had no idea of what
to do or how to start, but being asked peaked her interest.
I told Pam that if she wanted to give it a try it, I could check
the photo stores in downtown Chicago (where I worked) and
see if I could get a cheap lighting system and some backdrop
paper — which I did — and showed up with it the night be-
fore Pam’s first paying session. (By now, we were getting along
very nicely — who says a camera can’t get you love and happiness?)
Pam went on a 12-hour lighting cram-course and did the
session the next day. The pictures were pretty bad, but the
person still ordered a few prints, and Pam proved that you
can turn pro after only a few months of practice, and it is
possible to learn enough about lighting to get started in 12
hours or less.
KEY POINT — although Pam didn’t go to photo school,
or spend a lot of time preparing (and was scared of screwing
up the job) she still dove right in and gave it a try. Had she
not done that, she wouldn’t be living the creative, fulfill-
ing, and profitable life she lives today.
How about you? Will you spend your life dreaming and
“getting ready” or are you ready to dive right in and live
your dreams? Ultimately, being successful has less to do

25
with talent, and everything to do with action and a will-
ingness to do something!
After her first session, Pam decided she had better learn a
little more about photography and quickly found out that most
of the books on photography were pretty worthless. Either the
information was too sketchy, unclear, and incomplete, or just
too complicated for a regular person without a Ph.D. in physics
to figure out.
Going to photography school was out of the question because
we lacked the money and the time. Besides, Pam didn’t want
to spend years getting ready to get started — she wanted to
start now.
So here’s what happened. With the help of a few books and a
lot of experimentation (with our cheapest-of-the-cheap lighting
system), Pam figured out a simple, basic, setup that worked
well. It’s the one she still uses today to pull in large session
fees (although we no longer have the “cheapo” lighting system.
After a few years, when it finally “blew up,” we replaced it with a
moderately-priced “professional” system).
At the same time Pam was experimenting with her lighting
setup, she started looking through all sorts of magazines —
TV Guide, Ladies Home Journal, Vogue (just about anything
with ads and pictures) — for ideas and poses she could “steal.”
When she found something that appealed to her, she would
tear it out and put it in her “swipe file.”
Most of the poses she tore out were very different than what
you would find in a “normal” portrait studio — much more
“loose” and “fun.” I don’t think Pam actually knew, or cared,
what went on in a regular portrait studio and that turned out
to be a very good thing.

26
Because she didn’t have anyone telling her how things are
“supposed” to be done, she started with a clean slate and was
able to turn her energies to finding what she liked, and as it
happily turned out, what her clients liked.
KEY POINT — by not having any formal training, Pam
was never taught the “right” way to do things. Instead,
she followed her own heart, did what she liked, and what
her clients liked.
By modifying and adapting the poses in her “swipe file” to
her liking, and combining them with her simple lighting
setup, Pam’s Not Your Normal style of photography was born
and it was a hit.
During the next 7 years Pam operated part-time out of our
basement while still flying for TWA (which reminds me, in 1988
we flew to Las Vegas and got married so I could get airline passes —
hey, it was a fair return-on-investment for the camera I gave her!).
Meanwhile, I was working 10–14 hours a day at my design ty-
pography business in downtown Chicago. I enjoyed being in
business for myself, but the hours and deadline pressures were
ridiculous — we would get ads in at 2pm that had to be at the
paper by 5pm, and the work that came in at 5pm, had to be
delivered by 8am the next day.
Craziness. So, in 1991 I sold the business and bought a 45-acre
“former” farm (it used to be a farm but we don’t farm it) in North
Carolina where I am sitting at my computer right now writing
this book!
People always ask what possessed us to up and leave
Chicago and buy a farm in the middle of North Carolina.
I tell them it was an “impulse buy” and it’s the honest
truth. Right after I sold my business, we were visiting some

27
friends here, and just by accident, found this place, fell in
love with it, and “bought the farm.”
Moving down here was the start of a new life and this time I
wanted to make sure I didn’t get stuck working all the time. I
wanted to enjoy “The Farrm.”
And although I had no idea of what I wanted to do, I had a
clear picture of what I didn’t want to do, and that was — have
a job. Or have a store. Or any kind of business that had regu-
lar hours. Basically, I wanted to work out of my house, when
and only when I wanted to, and decided I would either do it,
or go broke trying.
Well I almost did go broke (that’s a whole ’nother story), but
obstinance and necessity are the mothers of invention...
KEY POINT — knowing what you don’t want is as impor-
tant as knowing what you want, and being obstinate and
uncompromising, in these matters is a virtue. Eventually
it all works out.
When we first moved to North Carolina, Pam continued to
work for TWA, commuting from Raleigh to St. Louis, to get to
work. But that got old real fast — Pam wanted to enjoy The
Farrm, too — so she decided to “throw in the towel” on TWA
and fire up the old photo business.
So now we were both out of work and faced with starting
Pam’s business from scratch. By doing a mailing of around
200 flyers, she picked up a couple of clients, who, in turn
provided a few referrals, who provided a few referrals — it
was obvious her clients liked the work, which was nice, but it
wasn’t generating enough money to live on.
Basically there were two problems — not charging enough,
and not getting enough business. The first problem was easily

28
solved by raising our prices... once we got over the fear of
losing the few clients that we already had.
We made an interesting discovery about pricing, too — many
people will use you because you’re expensive. At the higher
price points, your work has a higher perceived value.
KEY POINT — (this could be worth many thousands of dollars
to you) Even if you are a truly great photographer, if you
charge too little, you will be perceived as being only an
average photographer.
So — bottom line — we raised Pam’s prices from $175 per
session to $495. That took care of problem #1.
The second problem — not enough business — was not as
easily solved, at least on our terms. Remember, we didn’t
want a full-time studio, a yellow pages ad, a business phone,
and we didn’t want to do any telemarketing or have to sell
people on the phone.
Consequently, we relied totally on referrals and word-of-
mouth advertising, which was fine as far as it went, the prob-
lem being... it just didn’t go far enough.
It didn’t take too long for our cash reserves to dwindle to a
dangerous level. Pam started looking for a waitressing job
and it looked like we’d be back to being working stiffs in no
time.
That’s when I got mad (mostly at myself). Here was Pam, doing
work so good that it literally causes mothers to break into
tears of joy when Pam delivers their packages, and we can’t
make ends meet. I knew there had to be a way to make all of
this work the way we wanted it to work — the product was
great, our marketing just sucked.

29
So, I went nuts reading every marketing book I could get my
hands on, going to expensive seminars (on borrowed money!),
looking for every tip, trick, and secret that would allow us to
make a nice living without having to open up a “real” studio,
shell out big money for traditional advertising, and so on.
When I look back on it, I can’t believe I spent thousands of
dollars and hundreds of hours trying to figure out how we
could live the “easy life.” But that’s what I did, and by imple-
menting the tricks, tips, and secrets I learned, Pam’s business
exploded to the point that now we have a waiting list and can
set up blocks of sessions practically whenever and wherever
we want.
And I now know how to control the marketing “intensity” to
either put the business on “simmer” or bring it up to “full
boil.” Would you like to learn how do this too?
KEY POINT AND THE MORAL OF THIS STORY — you can
take a bunch of years, spend a lot of money, beat your head
against the wall like we did. Or you can let us show you what
we’ve learned the hard way, jump to the top, and save yourself a
lot of time and aggravation...

30
All the technical knowledge in the world won’t help you get a money-
making shot like this. Knowing how to setup the shot; knowing what to
say to the subject; and paying close attention for “the right moment”
will.

NOTE: ORIGINAL PHOTOS ARE IN GLORIOUS COLOR,


TO SEE PAM’S WORK IN COLOR VISIT WWW.NYNPHOTOSCHOOL.COM/GALLERYPAM.HTM

31
CHAPTER THREE
The Four Keys to Success
If you read our little story in the previous chapter, you know
how our business almost tanked because we ignored one of
the important KEYS OF SUCCESS. (We did OK on the first
three, but we blew it big time on SUCCESS KEY #4 — knowing how
to market)
In this chapter, we are going to go over each important success
key because they’re critical to your success. And I want to be
able to brag about your SUCCESS, not hear about how you
“almost” made it...
SUCCESS KEY #1 — Take Pictures that are IN HIGH DE-
MAND
We’ve all heard the old saying “build a better mousetrap and
they’ll beat a path to your door.” Well, that’s simply not true.
You can build “better” all day long, but if nobody wants it,
you’ll go broke. I can assure you that there are a ton of pho-
tographers that are technically “better” than Pam and at
least as creative. They’re also starving — unable to use their
skills to lead a fun, creative, and profitable life.
Pam takes pictures people want. I know that sounds simple,
but if I asked you to put together a portfolio of pictures that
would cause people to drive nearly 250 miles round-trip
(that’s how far some people drive just to have their photos taken by
Pam), would you even know where to start?
Pam is willing to show you in detail how to take pictures that
people pay $495 for over and over again. Is that worth some-
thing to you?... to be able to model your own business after

32
one that’s proven to generate high fees?
Now I want take a short break here, and talk about
something you need to know about our system and your
use of it...
Pam is going to show you what she does — what has
been successful for her in the marketplace — with no
significant detail left out. This doesn’t mean you have to
try and copy everything exactly, although you are wel-
come to do so.
What’s more likely, is that your personality, your prefer-
ences, your experiences, and your creativity will meld
with the ideas Pam gives you to create a style that is
uniquely yours.
And that’s a very good thing. Unlike some franchises or
systems that make you do everything a certain way, you
can adapt Pam’s materials to your own needs. You’ll find
that what you learn from Pam will expand your creativ-
ity, rather than stifle it.
SUCCESS KEY #2 — Keep It SIMPLE
If your techniques aren’t second nature to you, if they aren’t
100% reliable and repeatable, if you’re always bent on just
showing off your technical abilities, you simply won’t be able to
fully concentrate on what’s important — producing pictures
that customers want.
Let me put it this way, your clients won’t care if you can
properly light up a fly’s butt in the middle of the night. They
do care if you caught them at just the right moment. Doing
that requires concentration on the moment and using simple
techniques that you can “forget about.”

33
When you take our home study course, one of the first things
you’ll learn is Pam’s simple “set it and forget it” lighting. We’ll
quickly get you up to speed — you’ll master it — so you can go
out and start making money with your camera without having
to worry about a bunch of technical stuff you don’t need to
know and will never use.
Now don’t get me wrong, technique is important. It’s just that
(at least in our lucrative little business), it’s perhaps 5% of the
equation. The other 95% is in knowing how to set up the shot,
how to work with your subjects, and knowing when to “push
the button.” All things we teach in our course.
SUCCESS KEY #3 — take a lesson from your neighborhood
heart surgeon and SPECIALIZE
Most photographers learn a little about this and a little about
that. Consequently they do a little bit of everything and make
a little bit of money by working a lot.
But they never get to charge the BIG BUCKS.
They don’t get to work a weekend and take the rest of the
month off. They never make a “name” for themselves. Or cre-
ate a “controlled stampede” for their work. They never get the
honor and recognition that comes with being at the top of the
heap.
That takes specialization — what Napoleon Hill refers to in
his all-time classic book Think and Grow Rich, as “specific
knowledge.” (By the way, if you haven’t read this book, do yourself
a favor, no, promise me that you’ll get to the library and check out a
copy. That way, even if you don’t go any further with us than reading
this book, at least I’ll sleep better knowing I have given you another
important tool for success.)

34
Specialization is critical to earning the most amount of money
in the least amount of time. Do one thing, or at least be known
for doing one thing so well that people are literally forced to
come to you and pay what you ask. Pam, for example, only
does family photography — people and pets. She doesn’t do
sports, product, glamour, advertising, or weddings. Just
people and pets and only in her “Not Your Normal” style.
If you try to be everything to everybody,
you’ll wind up being nothing to nobody!
Pam’s course will give you the specialization you need to
charge high prices. This doesn’t mean you can’t “branch out”
or add Pam’s system to an existing business, but, doesn’t it
make sense — especially when you’re first starting out — to
concentrate on doing one thing well, instead of doing a vari-
ety of things half-assed?
SUCCESS KEY #4 — none of the above will matter, if you
don’t KNOW HOW TO MARKET
As a professional photographer, there will be little correlation
between the talent you have and the amount of money you
make. Your success as a business and a professional photogra-
pher will be nearly 100% determined by your skills as a mar-
keter. As in most endeavors, THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PHO-
TOGRAPHERS ARE THE ONES WHO KNOW HOW TO EF-
FECTIVELY MARKET THEMSELVES.
Never forget this.
You may remember from chapter two that, at one point, de-
spite Pam being a very good photographer, it looked like she
would have to get a waitressing job.
That’s when we learned how to market.

35
There are basically 2 reasons why photographers screw up
the marketing part.
One is a lack of knowledge.
But it’s also common — and this is the second reason — for
“creative” people to think that marketing is “beneath them,”
or that their talent will automatically bring people to their
door.
Nothing could be further from the truth. And thinking this
way, will only put a thick impenetrable wall between where
you are now, and where you want to be.
Fact is, you will achieve success much quicker if you learn to
think like a promoter first, and a photographer second. Be-
cause learning to be a marketer is what allows you to be a
professional photographer.
This doesn’t mean you should compromise the quality of your
product. Far from it. It does mean that if you spend all your
time practicing your photography — and consequently be-
come the best photographer in the world — it won’t matter.
Because unless you can market yourself effectively, you’ll
have to do something else for a living. Your talent and your
hard work will be wasted and the people who could have
benefited from your skills will be losers, too.
Learning to market, therefor, is as important as knowing how
to turn on your camera.
Now, it’s a rare person who likes “selling.” And it’s an even
rarer person who likes to be “sold.” Our system of marketing
is extremely unique in that it provides a steady stream of
clients without having to personally sell them. We’ve simply
learned ways to attract the people we want and let them sell
themselves.

36
In my course on “automatic marketing,” I’ll show you how you
can use these powerful techniques to build your business from
scratch and keep it operating at just about any “intensity” you
like.
OK, now we know the success basics, let’s get to some
business specifics...

37
Many of the
poses and
principles
you’ll learn
are adapt-
able to all
ages...

...some require the energy and


strength of youth.
NOTE: ORIGINAL PHOTOS ARE IN GLORIOUS COLOR,
TO SEE PAM’S WORK IN COLOR VISIT WWW.NYNPHOTOSCHOOL.COM/GALLERYPAM.HTM

38
CHAPTER FOUR
The business of Not Your Normal
Photography®
So far, we’ve learned that it is possible to make a nice living
working part time out of your house while avoiding most of
the hassles of an ordinary business. And we’ve gone over the
critical elements needed for success — high demand photos
— simple techniques — specialization — and marketing.
In this chapter, we’re going to get down to “brass tacks” and
give you a clear overview of how we run our business.
As I’ve mentioned previously, you can take Pam’s high-demand
style of photography and my automatic marketing techniques
and apply them just about any way you like. You can add them
to an existing business. You can work from your home or your
client’s home. Open up your own full or part-time studio. Work
as much or as little as you like. It’s entirely up to you and how
you choose to live your life.
Here are some of the “elements” you have to work with...
Producing high-demand photos
allows you to charge high prices
People have actually called us and said, “I don’t care what it
costs.” That’s high demand. An isolated incident, you say? A
couple of days ago someone called us and said, “I told my
husband I don’t care if it costs $5,000 I’m going to have Pam
do my baby pictures!” True story and I don’t tell you this to
brag, but to point out that for these people, price is not a ma-
jor issue. They want what they want and Pam can deliver it.
Will you have people calling you saying they don’t care what

39
it costs? I honestly don’t know. What I can promise is that we
will show you, in detail how you can take the very same kinds
of photographs that caused those people to become oblivious
to the cost.
Charging high prices
allows you to make more money
Sort of a no-brainer — if you’re going to do a days “work,” (a
reminder: this is a very fun business, calling it work is a stretch)
would you rather make a lot or a little?
You can make more money in a short period of time
by booking in “clusters”
The most efficient way to make money in this business is to
cluster your sessions and get them “out of the way” all at
once. Pam books sessions in groups — 3 sessions-a-day for a
weekend or more. In other words, she is only “open” when
she wants to be.
Sure, you’ll lose some “spontaneous” business by not being
available all the time, but as long as you have enough busi-
ness, who cares? When you learn Pam’s photo techniques,
combined with my marketing techniques, you should have all
the business you want.
If you make more money in a short period of time
you can take more time off
This, of course, is the big plus for us. As I write this, spring is
not too far off and then my “office” moves to under the mag-
nolia tree. Expect to hear birds in the background if you call
me.
If you’re not working all the time,
you don’t need a full-time studio

40
How would you like a business you could open and close
whenever and wherever you feel like it? That’s literally what
we do, and I’ll tell you a little story about how that came
about...
For a while, Pam was renting a room in a house for her
“studio.” The nice part was that she always had a place
to do photo sessions. The bad part was that she had the
ability to do them whenever a client wanted, which
meant that she would never really know when she would
be working, plus we had to pay rent every month.
Then, one day, right before the holiday busy season, we
found out that our landlord had sold the building and
“forgot” to tell us. We had to be out in 2 weeks. Suddenly
Pam had no studio, and we sent out a letter saying Pam
would not be doing any sessions for a while.
Well, her clients literally went bezonkers when they
found out Pam wasn’t available for doing photo sessions.
One of her clients even offered to let Pam use her house
for a weekend. We said OK, and Pam had eight sessions
booked instantaneously (word got out, they called us).
Normally Pam would have had sessions all throughout
the holidays (and she would have done more than eight). But
this way, Pam got them all done and over within a few
days, no muss, no fuss. We took all of December off and
said “Hey, this is kind of nice!”
So that’s what gave us the idea of doing “cluster bookings,”
and now that’s the only way we do it.
If you don’t have a full-time studio,
you eliminate a lot of the hassles of being in business
Some people like to have a “store” and like to go to work every

41
day. We don’t. To me, it’s one big hassle with a bunch of un-
necessary overhead. If you want to take a month off, and
people are used to coming to your studio anytime they want,
it’s a problem. And at the very least, you’ll be paying rent, or
mortgage, or utilities when you’re not using it.
Chances are, you have a room in your house you can use for a
“studio.” Currently we are using the dining room here at The
Farrm.
And most of the time it stays a dining room. Since we book in
clusters, it only gets turned into a “studio” every now and
then. By doing it this way, you don’t have to dedicate a room
for exclusive use as a studio.
And if you don’t have a room you can use, or you live in an
apartment, or you just don’t want clients coming to your house,
there are lots of other options, too — places where you can rent
a room for a short period of time. Or you can do sessions in
your client’s homes. We cover this in the course materials.
And now, a word about the
“automatic” marketing system that makes it all work...
If I’m starting to sound like a broken record on this, good,
because it’s too important — NO CLIENTS, NO MONEY, NO
BUSINESS. So there. You can take high-demand pictures—
you can charge high prices—you can book in clusters—you
can work from your home—you can do all of those things—
and none of it will do you any good if you can’t get any clients.
And most photography businesses would die a short, mean
death if they didn’t have a studio, an expensive yellow pages
ad, and a business phone. Yet we thrive on “none of the
above” and once you know the secrets of how we do it, you
can, too.

42
The exact system we use is what’s covered in my “Automatic
Marketing Manual.” Our system is simple and easy to use,
but you’ll need to know all the details of it to make it work
and this book is not the place to get started. I’m not about to
“spill my guts” and tell you my marketing secrets right here,
just as Pam can’t and won’t give you all her “tricks of the
trade” in this book either. I think you’ll understand that what
we have is of high value and we’re not going to tell just any-
body about it. Why should we?

What we are prepared to do is take on a few students that


are smart enough to recognize the value we can offer them
and are decisive enough to act. Those few, we will teach
thoroughly and help them become successful. If you think
you may be one of those people I invite you to the next chap-
ter which will explain how you can get started.

Yes, we intend to make good money on our little “school.”


Businesses don’t exist long and they lose the capacity to
help anybody, if they don’t make any money. But there is
more to it than that, an additional reason that keeps us
from just doing our photo sessions from time to time, kick-
ing back and relaxing the rest of the time. And that is the
heartfelt desire to put something good back into the world.
It’s just that after going through so many screwups and
trial and error, when you finally get something right — re-
ally right — I think you have the innate desire to share it
and to want to help others. In this case, it’s a double
“whammy” because we help you to live a creative, fun and
profitable life plus we’ll indirectly be helping the people
you photograph.
You see, I know first hand the effect Pam’s style of photogra-

43
phy has on her clients. I know the joy it brings into their lives
and how important Pam’s natural-style of photography is to
them. I also know that when Pam gets booked up and we
have to turn people away, there is nowhere else for them to
go to get the types of pictures they want. That hurts, and it
has nothing to do with money.
So you see, by teaching a few photographers what we know,
we have the opportunity to make many people happy, to
bring some extra joy into the world.
Now, if you are so acutely cynical to think that what I have
just said is simply a pile of marketing smaltz, so be it. But,
if that’s the case, I do hope you’ll think carefully before
enrolling in our school, because if you are truly that cyni-
cal, if you can’t open up a little bit, if you don’t love people,
you’ll have a difficult time making it in this business and
you’re probably not the kind of person we are looking for.
OK, see you in chapter 5...

44
Getting up close...

...and getting the whole family


are important parts of
Not Your Normal photography

NOTE: ORIGINAL PHOTOS ARE IN GLORIOUS COLOR,


TO SEE PAM’S WORK IN COLOR VISIT WWW.NYNPHOTOSCHOOL.COM/GALLERYPAM.HTM

45
CHAPTER FIVE
What else you need to know...
I believe I’ve given you a good understanding of our business.
In fact, you already know a lot more than Pam did when she
started out. But I’m sure you realize that, as with just about
anything, there are a lot of little details you need to know and
those are the things that turn out to be of prime importance.
And it’s those same little details JUST ABOUT EVERYONE
NEGLECTS TO TELL YOU.
For example, in our business, you need to know all the
“tricks” of getting people (and pets!) to do what you want (with
a smile on their face!). You need to know exactly what equip-
ment to get and exactly how to set it up...you need to know
how to put together a session package that people will pay
good money for...exactly how to word your promotional mate-
rials for maximum response...who to send them to, and so on.
These are all the things you’d get if you were to buy our busi-
ness (I sold my last business for over $300,000; this one is too per-
fect and not for sale), or if you were to buy a franchise, if we
sold one (in which case, you’d pay a franchise fee of $25,000 or
more).
Believe me, I’ve agonized over exactly how to pass this infor-
mation on to you and how much to charge for it. Because,
when I hand this information over to you, you’ll know the
inner workings of our business, our well-guarded “trade se-
crets.” You’ll be able to see everything we do from an
insider’s perspective.
And you’ll be able to copy what we do — all of it — or in
parts, as you need it. Step by step, you’ll discover how to build

46
your own photography business starting from “square one.”
And you’ll have the tools you need to make it as big or as
small as you like.
If you already have an existing photography business, that’s
fine, too. You can use Pam’s materials to add on to, or even
replace, your existing services. And my marketing methods
will apply no matter what you do.
Naturally, I’m not going to let this information go for “pea-
nuts.” It took Pam and myself over ten years of beating-our-
brains-out, not to mention the many thousands of dollars in
trial and error and failed experiments it took to perfect the
system.
It’s funny, many people spend $20,000 or more for a college
education and when they come out, they still don’t know what
the heck to do. You see, there is just no substitute for specific,
hands-on, nitty-gritty information when you want to get a
business and a career going. That’s what we’re going to give
you — real-world, tested information, in excruciatingly pain-
ful detail.
I know if Pam were to get “photo-amnesia,” and suddenly
forgot everything she knows about photography, she would
jump at the chance to pay thousands of dollars for the infor-
mation in our package because IT’S GOT THE THINGS YOU
NEED TO KNOW TO GET GOING THAT NO ONE ELSE
WILL TELL YOU.
But, I’m not going to charge you thousands for this informa-
tion that can literally change the way you live and enjoy your
life. I’m not even going to charge you the $2,970.00 that Pam
makes in one weekend. I am going to charge you a “solid”
price. After all, you are getting “solid” business information,

47
but you’ll find the price of our package to be EXTREMELY
fair.
Let’s take a moment and go over what you are going to get...
We’ve put together a “Not Your Normal” Home Study Photog-
raphy and “Automatic” Marketing Course.
We call this our “basic” system and at the heart of it are four
very large manuals (the basic system weighs in at around
16lbs.!)...
•The Not Your Normal Photography® Home Study Photo
Course by Pam Farr
Pam’s course takes you from knowing nothing, to being able
to do a PHOTO SESSION FOR MONEY.
IN PART ONE, you’ll find out what you need to know about
equipment and technique, including Pam’s “set it and forget
it” lighting. We didn’t pad this with a bunch of useless
“theory,” either. If you want to know how photons travel
through the various elements of your zoom lens, you’ll need to
look elsewhere. What we will show you is how to get started
right away making money with your camera.
IN PART TWO, Pam will go over with you some of her most
popular poses, showing and describing them in detail (she’ll
even tell you what to say). This is the heart of the course; where
Pam teaches you to take the kind of pictures people are willing
to pay large fees to get. When you’re done with this part of the
course, there will be no mystery as to how you should set up
each shot and you’ll have all the “parts” (poses) you need to put
together a paying photo session.
PART THREE shows you how to prepare for and conduct a
complete photo session. Pam covers everything from what to say

48
when your clients first walk in the door to how to send them off
on an upbeat note. She even shows you what to do when things
don’t go as planned.
PART FOUR covers what you need to do after the session and
tells you how to put together a SESSION PACKAGE THAT
MAKES THEM SAY “WOW!” (and tell all their friends about
you!)
Pam’s session packages are as unique as her photography and
hugely popular with her clients. One nice feature is that they
eliminate the problem most photographers face of having to
sell overpriced reprints to make their money. (Having to do that
puts you, and the client, in an uncomfortable position.) With Pam’s
session package, you’ll never have to pressure anybody for
anything, and you’ll still get reprint orders that are like getting
paid a bonus for your work!
•The Automatic Marketing Manual by Jeff Farr
Pam’s course shows you how to produce a product that’s in
high demand; my course will show how to bring the demand to
you. For starters, I’ve included a complete description of our
copyrighted business system that brings us a steady stream of
“pre-sold” customers, even though we don’t advertise and
have no business phone.
This is one of the most important photo “techniques” you can
learn. After a while, you may be able to live off repeat busi-
ness and referrals (I also cover getting referrals in this package),
but you really need this “LGM” system to get everything
going — especially since it brings in customers at practically
no cost to you. What a great way to get started if you don’t
have a lot of money to spend on marketing (who does?)!
The Automatic Marketing Manual is more than just a “blue-

49
print for success,” however. You’ll also get all of our relevant
marketing materials including Pam’s “panic” letter that
brought in $6,000.00 worth of business in a few short
days...our InfoPak that automatically sells roughly 25% of our
inquiries...you’ll even get the internal forms we use to man-
age our inquiries and customers.
In fact, I’ve included everything we use that I thought would
be helpful to you. And you can use these as models for your
own materials. Where else can you get “under their hood”
and examine a fine-tuned, real-world photography marketing
engine? There is no better way to learn than from examining
actual examples of marketing pieces.
•You’ll also get follow-up support via our MEMBER ONLY
WEBSITE. We’ve really tried hard to give you a complete
and clear paint-by-the-numbers photography business and
marketing plan. But we want to make double sure that you
have all the information you need to be successful. (If for some
reason you don’t become successful, I want to be able to sleep well
knowing it wasn’t because of us — something that you didn’t com-
pletely understand, or something unusual came up that we could
have helped you with.)
With your basic package, you’ll receive a complimentary 6-
month membership to the Association of Not Your Normal
Photographers, and included with your membership, you’ll
get access to the special member-only website.
The website is a major extension of the printed course. If we
were to put it all into 8½x11 pages and print it off, it would
fill up about 1,000 pages! On the website, you’ll find tips,
tricks, resources, answers to your questions — the member-
only site is packed solid with useful information from digital
to marketing, to “motivational” tips, to equipment and light-

50
ing, to sessions tips, and much, much more!
That’s the basic system. It’s perfect for getting a business
started, or if you just want to tinker around with this and see
what happens.
If you prefer, we also have a “deluxe” package. If you are
firmly committed to taking control of your life, if you want to
really “take the bull by the horns” and “hit the ground run-
ning,” this is the package to consider getting.
The DELUXE SYSTEM includes everything in the basic pack-
age, plus...
•Pam’s Private “Swipe” File. At first we were just going to
assemble this for our own use, not sure if we wanted to let all
of this out. But it’s just turned out to be so valuable we
couldn’t, in good conscious, keep it totally private.
In the basic system, Pam gives you enough poses and informa-
tion to get you started doing paying sessions. Naturally, we
couldn’t include everything Pam’s used in 15+ years of photo-
graphing. Nor could we tell you how to handle every single situ-
ation you’ll come across.
Pam’s Private Swipe File will help make sure you never run
short of ideas. Packed with poses, it includes just about every
situation we’ve run across. It’s Pam’s life’s work in a box, a huge
reference, an “encyclopedia” of Pam’s Not Your Normal poses.
Each one is shown and described in detail, ready for you to
“swipe.” When appropriate, Pam’s swipe file will even tell you
what to say to the people being photographed, and any little
“tricks” you’ll need to know about.
You’ll get special poses for holiday pictures, special events like
family reunions, and practically every combination of infants,

51
adults, children, and pets you can think of. Doing a session of a
family of three with a dog? No problem, just go to the swipe file
for ideas.
The Swipe File makes session planning a breeze, too. Just
mix and match to get what you need to build your session.
That’s how Pam uses her own personal Swipe File, and she’s
also included a special session planning kit to make your
session planning even easier. (NOTE: You can also use the
Swipes Files during a session to show your customers the pose you’re
looking for. Plus, you can use them as a sales tool until you build up
your own portfolio!)
Keep in mind, all the photos in the Swipe Files are proven
poses Pam has used over and over again. They took her years
to develop, but they were well worth the effort because they
KEEP HER CLIENTS COMING BACK over and over again,
paying Pam practically whatever she asks.
Special update — currently Pam’s asking, and getting,
$997 for about 40 pictures (we raised her prices a while ago!)
That amounts to $24.93 for each time she “pushes the but-
ton.” Based on that, the 1,695 photo examples make the 4-
volume Swipe File worth over $42,000.
However, if we only charged you what you could make on
your first 100 shots (after all, that’s less than 3 sessions worth!),
it would probably be fair to charge $24.93x100=$2,493 for
this book alone.
It would probably be fair, but we’re going to be more than
fair and not charge you any where near that amount for
the entire deluxe package. I’ll get to pricing in a moment,
but first let me finish telling you about what else is in the
deluxe package.

52
•Jeff ’s Secrets of Running a Supercharged Photo Business
This action guide picks up where the Automatic Marketing
Manual leaves off. It’s for the person who doesn’t just want a
steady stream of clients, but a steady STAMPEDE. Here’s the
information you need, not just to compete, but to make your
competition want to leave town.
In the basic system, I give you the techniques we used to get
Pam’s business going and keep it going on a controlled sim-
mer. This action guide shows you how to bring your business
up to a voracious boil even in tough business times and envi-
ronments.
The Supercharged Marketing Manual is massively crammed
full of advanced marketing ideas any one of which could be
worth many times more than what you’ll pay for the entire
deluxe system, but the real beauty of this action guide is it’s
high degree of usefulness. It’s ready-for-action toolkit ap-
proach. Each idea, each program, is broken out into digest-
ible “chunks” for you to use as needed. Personally, I use some
of the techniques some of the time, but not all of the tech-
niques all of the time. In fact some of the techniques I don’t
use any of the time because we don’t want to get that busy.
(As you know, in order to get Pam’s business rolling, I learned mar-
keting backwards, forwards, inside out, and upside down, and as a
consequence, I’ve worked as a well-paid marketing consultant to a
variety of businesses. So, just because I don’t use a technique for
Pam’s business doesn’t mean I’ve never used it or that I’m giving
you untested ideas. If you want to blow the lid off your business and
“come out blastin,’” you need this action guide now!)
•Extended follow-up support
With the deluxe system, you’ll also get a complimentary 6-

53
month subscription to the Association of Not Your Normal
Photographers member-only website, which keeps you up-
dated on the latest developments in business, photography,
and marketing, plus, you’ll get access to the advanced area of
the site.
The price for the basic package is only $487 and the price for
the deluxe package is only $987. I don’t know if that’s a little,
or a lot to you — to some, it’s a little, and to some it’s a lot.
I think you’ll agree though, it’s a more-than-fair price. Where
else can you get complete information on a viable business
that’s fun, personally rewarding, highly profitable, and can
be molded to fit your life-style for this small amount of
money?
I sure don’t know where else you would go, and considering
the basic package costs less than what you can make from
one photo session, and the deluxe, less than two,...well, I’m
starting to wonder if I am letting this go too cheaply...
At any rate, for the moment, the price stands. I’ll decide later,
if I’m going to raise the prices. In the meantime, you have a
decision to make. You can toss this aside and keep doing
what you’re doing (in which case, you’ll keep getting what you are
getting). Or you can invest in yourself and your future, and
PUT YOURSELF ON THE ROAD TO FULFILLING YOUR
DREAMS.
Let’s face it, if you aren’t willing to spend a relatively small
amount of money to put yourself in the driver’s seat — if you
don’t think you’re worth a few hundred bucks — you really
need to go stand in front of the mirror and seriously ask your-
self if you have what it takes to get to where you want to be.
Sure, you can try to “go it alone” — try to “reinvent the wheel”

54
and try to figure all this out on your own. This book has cer-
tainly pointed you in the right direction, and we have given
you all the introductory information we could. But there is
much more to know, and even if you do get lucky and eventu-
ally get it right without our help, it will cost you many, many,
times more than what we are asking for this ready-made busi-
ness system. I guarantee it.
So going it alone is not really an option and neither is “maybe
I’ll do this later.” Either you act on your dreams or you don’t.
Period. End of story. Success doesn’t come from being wishy-
washy. Good photographers know when to take the shot. TO
BE SUCCESSFUL, YOU MUST BE DECISIVE.
You’ve taken the first crucial step to activating your dreams
by requesting and reading this book. Now, you must take a
second...
I know from experience — and in your heart you know this,
too — that if you don’t act on this now, you’ll probably just
keep trudging along, doing what your doing, never breaking
out into the new, refreshing life this offers.
So that’s why I’ve set up a little deadline with a very valuable
free bonus. You can consider it a friendly “kick-in-butt” to
get you going — from Pam and myself — who truly appreci-
ate your initiative in contacting us and truly want to see you
become outrageously successful.
So, if you order within the next 45 days, we’ll include a 2-hour
video of Pam, at work, during real photo sessions, with actual
paying customers (plus, along with the video, you’ll get a book that
shows the actual photos that resulted). As good as our course and
manuals are, there’s nothing like seeing it actually done. The
more you watch, the more you will pick up, and the more com-

55
fortable you will get with doing sessions yourself.
By watching the video, you’ll absorb the valuable details you
need to know like a sponge picks up water. Plus, as an added
bonus, you’ll get a quick tour of our dining room “studio,” and
you’ll see that you do not need a “special” place to do this.
If we were to sell this bonus separately, the video would go
for $89 it’s YOURS FREE if you purchase either the basic or
the deluxe system within the next 45 days. (By the way, I am
strict about the deadline. What good is a deadline if you don’t stick to
it? So don’t call the day after with some excuse and expect to still get
the bonus.)
You can try all this out with no risk to you
Even though everything I’ve told you in this book is perfectly
true, I still don’t expect you to believe me, sight unseen. We’ve
all been jerked around so much by slick marketers and lied to
by just about everyone else, who can believe anything any-
more? That’s why Pam and I are giving you a very generous
“Not Your Normal” guarantee so you can prove to yourself
our system is everything we say it is at no risk to you.
So go ahead and take a full 90 days to check everything out.
Try it, use it — if for any reason you decide it’s not for you,
just send it back and we’ll refund your purchase price with
absolutely no hassles. And you can keep the video with our
apologies for your trouble. Fair enough?
You can enroll online at www.nynphotoschool.com/
enroll.htm, or offline by downloading the forms at
www.nynphotoschool.com/enrolloffline.htm.

56
I really hope you will take care of this today. Just think how
well you’ll sleep tonight knowing that this powerful package
will be in your hands shortly and the life you wish for is
within your reach.
Sincerely,

Pam and Jeff Farr, Not Your Normal Photography®


a division of Old Barn Enterprises, Inc.
600 Kelly Road, Carthage, NC 28327

OLD
BARN
PUBLISHING

57
EPILOGUE (UPDATES!)
Wow — Since I wrote my “little yellow book,” Pam and I have
been busy helping course members get started making money
photographing people and pets. And meanwhile, Pam has
raised her prices to $997 — so the $2,970.00 weekend now be-
comes a $5,982.00 weekend!
By the way, if you’re worried about competition, don’t be.
People and pet photography is a multi-billion dollar industry.
There is plenty of business for everyone. And out of the tens of
thousands of pro photographers, only a very few know about
Not Your Normal Photography®.
Also be aware that there is no way you can be “under” or
“over” qualified to benefit from these courses. The photographic
experience level of our course members ranges from total nov-
ice, to pros who have been in the business for over 30 years.
So who are we as a group? Bus drivers, bankers, teachers,
ministers, furniture makers, chimney sweeps, software devel-
opers, even a bona fide “rocket scientist,”...the list of back-
grounds and former endeavors is mind-boggling diverse.
But you’ll also find long time photo pros and the expected
“escapees” from Olan Mills, Sears, Wal Mart, and other photo
businesses, among us.
Plus, we have a number of graduates from NYI and other
photo schools (Pam and I will teach you what the photo schools don’t
and what the “normal” pros don’t want you to know!).
Our oldest member (that we’re aware of) is in his upper 70s, and
our youngest is 10 — and yes — she has done real paying photo
sessions for real clients (Pam’s Swipe Files were a big help in mak-
ing this possible!).
We’re “global,” too, with happy course members from Brazil,
to Sweden, to Switzerland, to South Africa, to Australia — we

58
even have a course member living on an aircraft carrier!
Some of our members get started full time right away. Some
take their time getting going while continuing to work at their
present jobs. Some just want to have a “hobby that pays well,”
and some just do it for fun!
Almost all of them use 35mm cameras (you don’t need fancy
stuff to get started), but a couple use medium format. As of this
update, some still use film (35mm), and some are all digital.
That choice is entirely up to you — results are what counts —
and these days you can get them with either film or digital.
Most of our course members work from home or on location
(client’s homes), or they find places they can use full or part
time. One course member struck a deal with his church, an-
other uses some under-utilized government buildings. Some
strike co-op deals with pet or children’s stores or rent tempo-
rary space in hotels or other buildings.
But we also have established full-time studios that have picked
up on our methods, too. Adding our methods helps them from
becoming obsolete in the marketplace, and our unique busi-
ness model helps them circumvent the problem of clients ille-
gally copying their photos (an increasing problem for “normal”
photographers in today’s high-quality digital world).
So, as you can see, we are a very diverse group, and WE
WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO JOIN US so we can show you —
step-by-step — how to be successful in this business!
— Jeff

59
SO WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU?
Well, you’ve heard our “story” and you now have a choice...

IF YOU’RE READY TO GET STARTED, you can enroll in the Not Your
Normal School of Photography online at www.NYNphotoschool.com/
enroll.htm, or if you prefer to enroll by mail, fax, or phone, you can down-
load the latest enrollment form at www.NYNphotoschool.com/
enrolloffline.pdf.

Your course will be shipped to you promptly, and if you’re in the U.S., you should
have it in a few days (shipments to non-U.S. locations may take a little longer).

Pam and I look forward to hearing your success story, and


please accept our sincere admiration for your decision to take
control of your life. Welcome to what is a very small “club.”

BUT WHAT IF YOU’RE NOT QUITE READY, OR EVEN SURE IF THIS IS


RIGHT FOR YOU?... I can appreciate your hesitation, and the question is,
what’s the next step for you?

You can, of course, put this book away and forget about it. But, since
you’re obviously interested in living on your own terms and making de-
cent money doing something that’s fun and creative — simply “forget-
ting” about the whole deal probably isn’t an option for you.

You can certainly put it out of your mind for a while, but if working
where and when you want to, and having pre-sold clients auto-
matically calling you appeals to you, then the big “what if this
did work for me” thought will probably continue to pop into your
head.

And what if you WERE to become successful like our course member
Aaron who, after starting with borrowed money, sent me this email just 3
months after receiving his course...

THANK YOU....I LOVE THIS COURSE AND I DO NOT WORK


ANY REGULAR JOBS ANYMORE!!! THANK YOU PAM AND
JEFF!!! Oh, and by the way, I had FOUR full sessions just
last Sunday and 1 xtra big one for next week. Looks like I

60
won’t need to work at all in Jan. Although I will, because I
want 10 sessions a week for spring ... I LOVE THIS COURSE.
MERRY XMAS — Aaron
Or like Jerry, one of our “older” course members...

Words are hard to come by in showing my appreciation for


what you and Pam have accomplished in the past year in
helping me get my business off to a great start.
I continually refer to your course when looking for inspira-
tion and answers about running my business. You know,
there are ups and downs in this business and not every-
thing goes as planned. But when I have a “down day” I
simply sit back and re-evaluate what didn’t work and why
it didn’t work. The answers of “why it didn’t work” is al-
ways in the course.
BTW, I just booked two rabbit shows (didn’t know those bun-
nies sell for big bucks!) and a large cat show (cats from all over
the USA) where I will be the only photographer. These people
saw my photos and contacted me to do these shows. This is
in addition to my family sessions already booked this fall
PLUS senior high school packages.
I just turned 70 years young and I credit your course and
your untiring efforts to make me successful in spite of my
many “Senior moments” (those of you who are retired know
what I mean!).
My 48 year old daughter is my assistant and sets up all the
family poses using the Swipe Files from your course. All I
have to do is press the shutter!
Anyhow, I just don’t have time to “be old” anymore and
even my wife of 50 years is amazed at my increased energy.
That “little ad” of yours that I saw in one of the photo
magazines sure changed my life for the better. Thanks and
continued success to you and Pam. My best, Jerry
Special note — just in case you’re thinking, “OK, so

61
Pam and Jeff have two people that like their course and
are doing well, so what?” — you’ll find over 200 more
comments and stories from course members at
www.NYNphotoschool.com/studentcomments.htm

THE NEXT STEP FOR YOU?...if those stories intrigued you, if success in
photography interests you, but you’re just not sure if Pam and Jeff’s pho-
tography course can help you, then you probably have some lingering
questions about us and our courses.

If that’s the case, I invite you to visit www.NYNphotographers.com/


faqs.htm. It’s a special website Pam and I have set up to answer your
questions, and if you still have questions or concerns after visiting, you can
contact us personally from this site.

AGAIN, IF YOU’RE READY TO ENROLL, YOU CAN DO IT ONLINE AT


www.NYNphotoschool.com/enroll.htm

IF YOU STILL HAVE QUESTIONS, VISIT


www.NYNphotographers.com/faqs.htm


In any case, I encourage you to act now.
Pam and I reserve the right to discon-
tinue or decline enrollments at any time.
We guarantee our courses, but we do not
guarantee they will always be available!

62
Enroll risk free — all courses come with
our unconditional 90-day money back
guarantee (less shipping) — at
www.NYNphotoschool.com/enroll.htm

For complete updates on what’s been


happening since Pam and I wrote The
Secret Of Making $2,970.00 In One Week-
end Photographing People And Pets, and
to get the latest info on Not Your Normal
School of Photography offerings, includ-
ing detailed course descriptions, visit

www.NYNphotoschool.com/updates.htm

Photographically yours,

Pam and Jeff Farr

63

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