A Look Back on 2011: Lessons Learned From the Trenches

January 18th, 2012 by Elizabeth Beskin | Share Blog

The overall morale in 2011 was higher than it has been for the past three years. There was hopefulness in the air. Here at 5^th Avenue Digital, we saw:

Companies having summer outings and holiday parties for the first time in years.

Advertisers spending marketing dollars on events with consumer interaction and (thankfully) photo capture, for mementos or social media benefit.

The return of corporate incentive trips and large company celebrations.

Companies putting money back into their image and deciding to update their employee’s headshots.

Business surging once again for the venues and planners we work with.

It seems like everyone is starting to see the economic woes dissipate. The many jobs we were lucky enough to be part of this past year indicate we are on our way, after two years of corporate celebrations being relegated to the back burner.

I’ve worked hard to assemble a team of super-talented photographers, who have captured not only incredible corporate images this year but have also taken our 5^th Avenue Social division to new heights. We have partnered with a dynamic group of planners and venues and are very excited to share our new portfolios that feature images from their clients’ events. I am already anticipating the new images we’ll be seeing in the coming months.

One of my proudest accomplishments in 2011 is the newest model of the YouBooth photo booth. The collaborations with our clients have allowed us to introduce the newest technology crazes to their events. The YouBooth has a new exterior design, plus the most exciting new feature: a social media application that allows guests to upload their photos directly to Twitter, Facebook or email.

This year the YouBooth was proudly used at pop-up store events, holiday parties, mitzvahs, weddings – any occasion where fun was required. What we love the most is finding creative solutions that maximize each client’s use of the booth. I owe a special shout-out to my producer, Rylan Crooks, for always finding ways to execute our clients’ unending ideas of how they envision using the YouBooth.

Building a strong business in this economic time is certainly a challenge. We have watched many of our partners in event planning scale down the past few years, and it’s so comforting to watch them scale back up. We are very grateful for their trust in us and we treasure these partnerships.

I am also very grateful to my 5^th Avenue Digital team: the amazing group inside the office, Beth, Rylan and Tim, and the photographers, videographers and designers that make our clients their number one priority. Teamwork and partnerships have been the overall theme in 2011. Knowing that you have the right people in the ship makes being the captain a joy. I am grateful every day that I get to work with the team I have, and I would not have been able to double our business this year if it hadn’t been for them. There have been some rough waters in terms of owning a photography business over the past three years, but it looks like smoother sailing ahead.

Thank you all who have contributed to an amazing 2011. We will be sharing some of our favorite photographic moments in galleries over the next few weeks. Here are a few more of my favorites.