The SmugMug Blog

The Partnership: Two Artists, One Platform, Limitless Possibilities

Name: Natalie Licini and Cate Scaglione
Position/Title: Co-owners
Name of Company: Je Revele Fine Art Photography
Location: New York City, New Jersey
Market: Portrait Photography
Website: www.jerevele.com
Bragworthy Factoid: Their studio is located in the historic stained-glass-filled New Jersey castle where actor Michael Douglas was born. The windows were imported from 14th century churches in France.
SmugMugger Since: 2009

Career Highlights…

• Natalie is a silver medalist for the 2012 PPA International Photographic Competition.
• Three of Natalie’s images merited and two were put on loan the first time she submitted work to the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) awards in 2011.
• Natalie won several awards at the 2011 Wedding Photography Association (WPPI), including second place in the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International.
• Cate worked on several award-winning print and TV ad campaigns for major luxury brands, some of which were photographed by Annie Liebovitz and filmed by Martin Scorcese.
• Cate’s earliest Intimate Portraiture work won awards with the International Association of Boudoir Photographers.

Favorite Features…

• Customization
• Events and Favorites
• SEO and keyword tagging
• Social media and integrated commenting
• Privacy/security

A match made in heaven

Originally independent fine art and portrait photographers, Natalie and Cate met after being introduced by a common client and attending the same workshop. Instantly inspired by each other’s work, for several years they flirted with each other as friends and colleagues. Ultimately, they realized their unique experience and esthetic presented an opportunity: merging their collective strengths to form a new kind of photography studio. Cate had an earlier career as an advertising executive; Natalie worked in finance. “We’re opposite in our personalities and skill sets,” Cate says. “But our artistic sensibilities are very similar. We’re both sensitive, relationship-oriented people.” The professional marriage allowed them to not only enhance their artistic, creative brief and storyboarding offerings, but also to branch out beyond photography into branding and strategy, services unique in the photography marketplace. Calling the resulting partnership “kismet,” Natalie believes the alliance has strengthened their business across the board—their artistry, business model, client services and strategic concepting. “Eventually, we didn’t like not working together,” she says. “We innovated in ways that surprised us.”

Reveling in their new look

Creating a unified and functional online presence presented a challenge: Not only did Je Revele need to brand itself as a true partnership, it also had to feature three separate competencies—in wedding/life portraiture, intimate portraits and, most recently, commercial. Thankfully, SmugMug was up to the task. “We customized our website using a sophisticated architecture that was necessary for our business,” Natalie says. “This allowed two artists to merge and optimally showcase their work.” The partners attribute their success in part to SmugMug’s customizability, which Natalie calls “streamlined and easy to use.” Having a lush, thoughtfully organized site has helped them build a sprawling client base via referrals and Google.

Two artists, one tool set

As sole proprietors, Je Revele’s principals were forced to turn to various online tools to manage their business. Not With SmugMug. “We wanted to have one interface to archive, display, sell and manage client photos,” Cate says. “SmugMug is a one-stop shop and we love it.” Natalie adds that not only does SmugMug save them considerable time, it also helps their clients. “Our brides love seeing their galleries online, sharing with friends and family after the wedding. Now they can have guests order prints directly. Many of my clients have booming careers [themselves], so this is a time-saver for everyone.” Natalie and Cate use the Events feature to send links to clients, so they can select their favorites from a set of proofs, for printing or inclusion in an album. They particularly love the way commenting is fully integrated, so that their clients can give feedback on photos, concepts and ideas on the spot.

Never-boring storyboarding

Je Revele’s unique consultancy requires what they call “custom inspiration boards” as well as more conventional storyboards to convey their vision to clients. In the past, they used a popular online pinboard site to introduce their ideas and assets. That changed when they discovered everything they posted there was either public or owned by the domain host. “We decided to migrate [everything] to SmugMug for security and privacy,” Natalie says. “We do a lot of high-end intimate portraiture, much of it personal, a gift or surprise for loved ones. Now we can password-protect their photos in a SmugMug gallery. The private nature of it makes everyone feel like a VIP.” Cate emphasizes that SmugMug’s privacy and security measures also protect Je Revele’s intellectual property. “Before, we were emailing creative briefs as huge attachments,” she says. “Anyone could take it and use it, replicate it, perform services herself. Putting it in a private gallery gives you more control. We can change the password and take it down when we want.”

Going beyond the image

SmugMug’s ability to protect both ideas and assets has helped Je Revele’s founders expand their business, forging ahead not just in traditional photography, but also in branding and strategy. “Our background in business development and brand management is crucial to how we’re doing all this,” Cate observes. “What’s interesting is we’re not just using it to serve commercial clients. We’re also doing a lot of consulting work for other photographers and industry vendors.” Natalie expands on why SmugMug’s seamless client-facing experience and architecture works so well for their beyond-photography business model: “As we work with commercial clients, we’re not just showing up and helping them execute their vision—we’re helping them see if their branding is aligned with their vision.”

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