ÜBER DIESE EPISODE
What actually moves you from 5K weddings to 15K or 25K weddings? John Bunn is joining today with the answer.
John is a wedding photographer, filmmaker, and host of the Shifting Focus podcast. He's 20 years into weddings, averaging 25K to 30K per wedding, with a 60K photo and video booking on his calendar for next year – and he started at $500 a wedding in 2007, in Oklahoma, with no Instagram and no education industry to learn from. In this episode he breaks down what he calls the middle mindset, which isn't a price point at all but a way of running your calendar that keeps hardworking photographers booked, busy, and quietly burning out. He also walks through the three levers every photography business runs on – your work, your brand, and your network – and why most of us keep pulling the one we're already good at while the other two sit untouched.
Then he tells the full story behind that 60K booking, and I promise it's not the story you're expecting. It starts at a rehearsal dinner running an hour and a half behind, with a decision he made that had nothing to do with money. We also get into the €2,000 wedding in Italy that he practically begged to shoot and how it turned into a $22,000 destination booking, why raising your prices works better in steps than in leaps, and why John says the middle market is actually harder to sell than the luxury market. If you're wondering how photographers are charging double, triple, even QUADRUPLE what you charge and how they got there, this one's for you, friend.
In this episode of All Angles Photography Podcast, you will learn:
- What the "middle mindset" actually looks like on your calendar, and why it has almost nothing to do with what you charge
- The three levers behind every booking – your work, your brand, and your network – and how many you need to be exceptional in to reach each pricing tier
- The one-hour clarity exercise to do this week that tells you exactly which lever to pull next
- The full story behind John's 60K photo and video booking, from a rehearsal dinner to three weddings for one family
- How a €2,000 destination wedding in Italy led to a $22,000 booking in Charleston
- Why luxury couples buy differently than middle-market couples, and how to sell to each
Show Notes:
https://clairehunt.co/blog/show-notes/pricing-conversations-with-john-bunn/
And for a new way to experience the podcast, watch it here and subscribe on Youtube!
Featured Offerings or Resources Mentioned in this Episode:- Take the Booking Bottleneck Quiz – 12 questions, about three minutes, and it tells you which of the five foundations of your business is the bottleneck quietly costing you bookings right now, plus one action step to take this week
- Join the waitlist for Book It – the complete business foundation that takes wedding photographers from working hard and hoping the right clients find you → sought after, choosing their clients, charging what they actually want, and running a business that works harder than them. Consistent overflow instead of scarcity.
- Explore Scale It – for photographers ready to scale, reclaim their time, and build systems that hold without them
- John Bunn's website and education – podcast, courses, masterminds, and in-person events
- The Shifting Focus podcast – John's show, 477 episodes deep and never a missed Monday
- John's Exposure Triangle Quiz – scores you from 0 to 100 on your work, your brand, and your network. He normally only shares this with his mastermind students
- The Shifting Focus Experience – October 27th and 28th in Tulsa, keynotes, guest speakers, and a full styled shoot designed by one of John's luxury planner friends. Tickets are $2,000 and there were only five or six left when we recorded
- Claire's Instagram: @itsclairehunt
- John's Instagram: @johnbunn_
