After 11 years of photographing and filming families, do you know what makes me most nervous during a shoot? Photographing couples. Somehow it feels like a big ask to have parents take their attention off their kids and focus on each other. I can envision the kind of image I want for them, but sometimes […]

Family films are a growing niche among professional photographers. If you’ve wondered about adding them to your offerings, here are a few tips to get you started before you offer family films. Purchase a mic. Audio drives story, so a mic is a must. If you’re ready to dive into video, purchase an on-camera stereo […]

I say that I don’t like New Year’s resolutions, but I really do. Something about my Enneagram 1 personality loves a good goal (or 10). I’ve shared those goals for 2024 already…but here’s the mindset that I pray carries me through another year of business, captured in the words of my New Year’s manifesto. It’s […]

While they aren’t mutually exclusive, income vs. impact has been my perennial question in business. It comes up every year as I decide whether to raise my prices but feels most acute at tax season. There’s a painful reckoning when I account for business expenditures and calculate my hourly rate. It feels like my time […]

If you’re a photographer who lives in a colder climate, it’s likely that your shooting season is compressed like mine. You drive hard from April to November, and your business slows down during the winter months. I love the seasonal nature of my work and actually prefer it to the alternative…the hard part is October. […]

The definition of the word “ideal” is a.) satisfying one’s conception of what is perfect, b.) existing only in the imagination. The opposite of the word ideal is “real.” Last I checked, I didn’t marry an ideal husband. Our two daughters aren’t ideal either. I don’t have a single ideal friend…but lots of really good […]