I know what you’re thinking. We’re only one-fourth of the way into 2016, so how can I possibly present you with the best photography companies of the year?

Well, the answer is simple: there are three companies that have simply raised the bar so high for photographers that I’m hard-pressed to think of others that have matched their influence and success so far this year.

So which photography companies are knocking it out of the park?

Plymouth Card Company

Let’s face it, as photographers, we’re constantly looking for ways to get more clients and increase profits. One of my absolute favorite new companies, Plymouth Card Company, allows you to do both. They offer a wide-range of high-quality, made in America products that help you stand head and shoulders above your competitors. Offer your clients all sorts of supplemental products, from beautiful graduation announcements for your senior portrait clients to gorgeous save the date cards for your wedding clients. They even offer products for photographers that specialize in real estate photography and event photography. The bottom line is that you can go from offering plain old prints to offering a whole slate of photography products. That means more money in your pocket.

Not only that, Plymouth Cards has products that you can use to help promote your business, get new clients, and retain existing ones. Use photo insert note cards as a physical proof so your clients can inspect the real thing rather than squinting at their phone or computer screen. By placing actual prints in the hands of your clients, they will be more likely to order more prints (and other products too!). Additionally, using Plymouth Cards’ photo insert cards makes marketing your business so much easier! Just have your contact information printed on the materials and every time someone looks at a client’s prints, cards, announcements or other products, they will be able to see that you’re responsible for the amazing images they’re looking at. To top it all off, Plymouth Cards has incredible prices that won’t break the bank.

Awesome prices. Excellent products. Fantastic customer support. That’s a winning combination!

Spider Holster

Okay, full disclosure - Spider Holster isn’t a new company to PhotographyTalk. I’ve actually been a Spider Holster fan for a number of years (read about it here). But I was reminded of my love for Spider Holster when I saw these guys at the 2016 WPPI show.

One of their most popular products is the SpiderPro holster. This bad boy frees up your arms and shoulders from all those pesky camera straps and puts your camera where it should be - within easy reach of your hands, nestled right there on your hips. Grab your camera from your hip like an old west cowboy with a single or dual holster and fire away with the freedom of movement required to get the shots you need. And now Spider Holster has a new SpiderPro Hand Strap that offers you even more flexibility and functionality. Designed for professional camera bodies, this bad boy puts your hands in a perfect shooting position. It’s no wonder it was such a huge hit at WPPI!

Spider Holsters has always pumped out incredible gear for photographers, but WPPI showed me that once again, Spider Holster is taking their game to the next level by bringing amazing new products to market for photographers. Why is their stuff so good? The owner of the company, Shai, is a professional photographer and knows firsthand the challenges we face during the daily photography grind. As a result, Shai and Spider Holster are constantly coming out with innovative new products that help free our hands and make us more productive photographers.

Founded by photographers, for photographers. Some of the best photography accessories money can buy. That’s why Spider Holster makes our list of 2016’s best photography companies.

Gifyyy

A brand new company that’s exploded onto the photography scene and right onto my radar of best photography companies is Gifyyy. They were there at WPPI this year, and they absolutely killed it with their incredibly innovative photo booth.

Basically Gifyyy is a standalone, portable photo booth that you can carry in one hand, set up in just a few minutes, and leave it there to run itself while you tend to your other photography duties. Its integrated hardware and software work together to take animated GIFs that are then delivered right to patrons’ mobile phones. People can then share their GIFs on social media or even check out a custom stream of GIFs from the event. Cool huh? What’s more, Gifyyy comes with integrated SMS and email capture tools so you can stay in touch with people that use it during your events. Talk about an incredible way to capture leads!

Like Spider Holster, Gifyyy was founded by wedding photographers, and as a result, their product development focused on creating a functional, convenient, and fun product that will seamlessly integrate into your gigs. It’s like having a second shooter, a fun assistant, and an entertaining sideshow all in one!

The Last Word

Each of these companies made my list of the best of the best for different reasons. Plymouth Cards can help you increase your bottom line and retain more customers. Spider Holster can make your job vastly easier with their convenient, well-designed products. Gifyyy can bring an incredibly fun element to your gigs that’s sure to get people buzzing and coming back for more. While each company has a different set of products, they all share one thing in common: they are taking the photography industry by storm and changing the way we do business, and for the better!

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