I understand we’re at the end of January, so this is a little late. But I think we can agree January is a bit of a weird month! The first week or two you have the holiday hangover, and after that it takes a second to get the gears warmed up and grinding again. And you know what? That is okay! Taking breaks and having a slow start are a completely normal, healthy part of the process. It’s consistency that matters! So I’m showing up here and now to share a little review of 2019 with you, and some exciting things coming in the future.
Successes
2019 has been a huge year for me! I’ve worked with some amazing clients this year, including Earth Harbor, Define Me Fragrance, Audrey and Bear, Forte Elements, Baltic Born, Zhou Nutrition, and more. I’ve loved getting to know each of their brands – there’s nothing better than working with teams and companies who care about making a difference in the world. It’s a powerful thing to be a part of!
I’ve also been putting myself out there to meet new people – whether that be designers, models, stylists, makeup artists, and more. My FAVORITE part of being a professional photographer is the people I get to work with every day. Their creativity never ceases to inspire me!
In my personal life, I’ve also hit some big milestones! I graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor’s of Art in Photography (you can read more about that here) and worked full time as a product photographer for a marketing agency. I have also been working SO hard on my business – mostly in the evenings and the weekends. You midnight hustlers working to get your brand up and running, I feel ya! The hard work has been paying off, and for that I am so incredibly grateful!
My husband and I also found out we are expecting our first baby! I spent 8 months of 2019 pregnant, and boy, that was a learning experience! Pregnancy is not for the faint of heart. However, it will be so worth it when we get to cuddle our tiny baby and kiss his tiny toes. He’s coming in less than 3 weeks now, and we are so excited to meet him!
Failures
The word failure sounds kind of harsh, doesn’t it? However, it doesn’t have to be harsh at all. Failures are KEY to success. Without it, we would never learn.
One mistake I made this year was figuring out my workflow with clients. I have always been a strong communicator, but as my business grew and I had so much going on, it was difficult to keep track of where every client was at and give them equal attention and care. I ran into some hiccups for sure, and I’m grateful for my clients being patient with me when this did happen! But this failure motivated me to create a clear, simple, consistent workflow that will help me give every client the equal attention and love they deserve.
My other mistake that I’m still working on from 2018 is overcoming being a work-a-holic! In 2018, I struggled a LOT with setting healthy boundaries between work and personal life. 2019 saw some big improvements, but in 2020 I’m excited to create even more balance in my life. I will be working from home, and my husband and I created an office/studio for me to work in. This will help me separate work time from personal time. I’m also setting more strict work hours vs. personal hours during my days. I’m also making changes in my life to create healthier habits. In the past, I’ve been so busy with work, school, and my business that I neglected things like nourishing my body well (helllooooo puff Cheetos) and exercising. I’ve started a simple daily routine that will help me make sure those important parts of me are taken care of and paid attention to. This in turn will help me serve my clients and my family better!
We’ll see how this all goes with being a mom – I am nervous, but also so excited to begin the journey as a mother, entrepreneur, wife, and woman. I think being a mother will add a richness and fulness to my life that I’ve never experienced, and although it will be a constant process of balancing and making things work, I’m so excited and grateful that these things are part of my journey. My family is hands down the most important thing in my life, and I’m excited to see what our new little guy brings.
What’s Coming in 2020!
2020 is going to be a BIG year! I have a lot of ideas and things in the works to create and share this year. They’re going to take a second to get into place – My first priority until April is taking care of our new little guy and transitioning into life with him! But starting in April, I’ll be working on some really exciting new projects for you! A few on the list are:
- Continue to create work with the brands I love! I’m excited to see what this new year brings for each of the companies I’ve been working with, and the images we create together this year.
- Reach out to new brands to create work for them. I love working with beauty and fashion companies, and am excited to reach out and find a few more to work with this year.
- Incorporate motion into my work. I’ve dabbled a tiny bit in video, but I want to learn more about this medium and how it can help the brands I work with. I also want to create more stop motion videos and gifs this year.
- Model Portrait Sessions. I’ve had this idea for a while, and am excited to implement it! My favorite kind of photography is working with models in the studio. I can shoot beauty and fashion portraits all day – it’s so fun! I’ve also noticed most models don’t have this type of imagery in their portfolios, or if they do, they often need to be updated. I’ll be offering model sessions specifically to help models get beauty and fashion imagery in their portfolios. This is going to be SO fun and I can’t wait to share more!
- Content Creation Subscription for Brands. Companies ALWAYS need more content for their websites and social media. I’ve been creating monthly images for a couple brands this year. I’m taking what I learned about working with them, and I’m creating a subscription based service for brands to get monthly product photography done. This will offer a more affordable, convenient option for simple images to improve your brand presence on your website and social media.
- Mentoring sessions + education. Plans are in the works for offering education to other photographers! My ideas include mainly sharing lighting and retouching techniques. However, if there is something specific you’d like to learn, please let me know. I genuinely want to help improve and build our industry by rising together.
- A podcast??? I’m still deciding whether I want to undertake this or not this year – I tend to bite off more than I can chew, so this might be a 2021 project haha. But I would LOVE to create a podcast that connects local creatives. I would interview photographers, makeup artists, florists, fashion designers, stylists, models, etc. to talk all things related to the creative industry. We’ll see if this one happens, but I’m excited about the idea!
There’s so much to look forward to in 2020, and I can’t wait to begin! Thanks for sharing this journey with me. To stay up to date and be the first to know about when these new services are launching, sign up for my email list!
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