Communicating Clearly: An Interview with Ben Lipford
Ben Lipford is an Atlanta-based documentary photographer who also has extensive experience in the wedding, commercial, senior, and studio portrait genres as well. He studied at Georgia Tech with the dream of being an engineer, but photography quickly became a hobby and then a passion. In 2016, after two degrees and ten years of being dually focused, he left engineering to start Ben Lipford Photography.
As a student of the 2021-2022 run of No More F*ckin’ Around, Ash Raddatz notice his innate ability to create processes and procedures for his business, and she was intrigued by what other practical workflows and tips he had up his engineering sleeve. His background made him a perfect fit for joining the DFP Instructor Team, where we are excited to be able to learn about his approach to the business side of things.
In his course Communicating Clearly, Ben teaches all about taking the stress, worry, confusion, and insecurity out of communicating with your clients and replacing those feelings with clarity and confidence. Over the course of 5 lessons, students learn why communication is important, explore a methodology for rethinking client communication, and outline their most common client conversations.
The course is broken down into 5 easy to follow lessons:
1. It Starts with You: In this introductory lesson, we’ll define Communication, discuss why it’s important, and discover our current hang-ups.
2. Identifying Touchpoints: In this lesson, we’ll develop an outline for our overall client process and identify the areas where we interact with our clients.
3. Communicating CLEARly: In this lesson, we’ll discuss the benefits and drawbacks of scripts, and discover new a methodology for outlining client conversations.
4. Outlining Our Touchpoints: In this lesson, we’ll put everything we’ve learned into practice by outlining our client conversations.
5. Talking to the Mirror: In this final lesson, we’ll discover how to practice your conversations, create common email templates, and fine-tune your strategy as your business grows.
Here’s a little more about Ben…
1. What is photography for you?
Photography has always been this crazy set of contradictions for me. It’s a combination of technical perfection and artistic creativity. It’s the study of the world around us, and yet requires us to be in tune with our own feelings as well. Simultaneously, we work to capture both literal and emotional moments. We photograph a single moment in time, and now that moment gets to live on forever. Honestly, I think it’s these contradictions that make photography so much fun and so meaningful to me!
2. What’s typically in your camera bag?
While the brands and models have changed, I’ve primarily used a 2 camera set up with a 35mm and 85mm lenses for the last 15 years - with the 35mm accounting for probably 90% of the photos I’ve delivered. I just see the world in 35mm, and couldn’t go without it. Additional lenses, gear, and accessories show up on occasion, but that’s the core of my kit.
3. From your point of view, what makes a good picture?
My answer has changed a lot over the course of my career. Ask me a few years ago, and I would have probably discussed the technical aspects of an image, talking about how the light, moment, and composition work together. But now, I think a good photo is one that clearly communicates something of value. We’re so inundated with images these days that for a photo to actually cut through the noise and communicate something of value to the viewer seems pretty rare.
4. What are you passionate about outside of photography?
I absolutely love being a dad to my 2 year old daughter, Emmy, and husband to my wife, Rebecca. They bring me so much joy and make my life so much better! Outside of my girls, I’m a huge nerd at heart! When I have some free time (which seems to be dwindling every day), I love to play video games. I’m also an avid reader of everything from non-fiction to epic fantasy. My favorites are Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan, and basically anything written by Brandon Sanderson. I’m currently reading Dune, by Frank Herbert. Music is also a huge passion of mine. When I’m not listening to a book, I have a song playing in the background.
5. What’s been the biggest highlight of your photography journey so far?
I have to think hard on this one, as I’ve had lots of important points in my photography journey - buying my first camera, studying abroad in Europe for a summer, shooting my first wedding. The one that sticks out the most was photographing my first birth. During the shoot, I was so focused on the photography that I didn’t really process what was happening. The… weight of what happened didn’t hit me until I was driving home at 4:00 am the next morning. I distinctly remember being so exhausted and overwhelmed that I couldn’t help crying the whole way home. I’ll never forget it.
6. What’s been the biggest highlight in your photography journey so far?
At the beginning of 2021, I started offering Year in the Life sessions for the first time. Telling long-term family stories has been something I’ve wanted to do for a few years now, and it turned out even better than I had hoped. I just completed my first few sets at the beginning of 2022, and I’m currently working on fine-tuning things to start offering them to more clients.
7. If you could give yourself one piece of advice when first starting out, what would it be?
As a perfectionist, I have a hard time hitting the go button on things. I waited way too long before starting my business, launching my website, settling on pricing… and pretty much every other decision. So, if I had to go back, I’d tell myself then what I tell myself now when I feel my perfectionism start to rise: Progress over Perfection. Strive for progress, not perfection. You can’t perfect a thing you haven’t actually done yet. Stop worrying, analyzing, and thinking so much – just go do it.
8. How do you decide when to click the shutter? What makes you say “Ah, I have to click right now!”
This is another question I would have answered differently 10 years ago. Back then, I probably would have said that I’m patient, watch, and wait for the perfect moment. Since then, I’ve learned that I photograph very intuitively - that is, I tend to just trust my gut on when to push the button. I’m a big believer of shooting through moments and tend to have an itchy trigger finger. Some may call it overshooting… I just say I’m thorough at confirming the moment is over.
Check out Ben’s course “Communicating Clearly” available now in the Learning Library!