I'm ashamed at how long it's been since I've posted both on my blog and my Facebook page, but as usual, life got in my way. I've been dealing with a lot personally, which I'm not going to get into here... This post is going to talk about what I've been up to these past few months and some of the things I leanred in 2018. I've taken a much needed break over the past month, but am excited to start posting, blogging and taking clients again!
2018 was my first year with a website, I'd say things went pretty well (for the most part). I worked with so many new clients and learned so much. The end of the year got very hectic with fall sessions and holiday sessions, along with hosting Thanksgiving at our new house for the first year and spending time with our families for Christmas. From about mid-October through mid-December I was booked like crazy, and while that was exciting, it was a little overwhelming! I haven't shared anything from those sessions, so I'll be doing a little of that here!
One big thing I learned this past year is that even after several years of working on photography, there is always going to be a TON for me to learn and so many ways for me to grow both as a photographer and a business owner. I had the pleasure of shooting a few newborn sessions over the past year, and really learned how hard newborn photography can be! I love photographing newborns, but have always done so in more of a lifestyle type of session. I give SO much credit to newborn photographers who use adorable wraps and poses for those little babies. I would love to learn how to do a perfect wrap on a newborn, but quite frankly, I'm a little intimidated by it! I tend to have poor luck with newborns and they never want to sleep for me, but I manage to make the best of it!
Holiday Mini Sessions can be so fun, but also a little wild! Especially here in New England, the weather is SO unpredictable that it made it difficult for scheduling sessions. I had a few weekends where it was too cold, one weekend where I was sick and one weekend of snow. For the snowy weekend, we went with it anyways and the results were awesome (or at least, I thought it was awesome). But unpredictable weather can also equal unpredictable toddlers! Most of them were so excited about the snow (maybe TOO excited about the snow)! It got wet and cold while were were shooting, but we managed to get some great shots in. I luckily only had 2 clients the weekend of the snow, and both were great sports about the weather (and both little ones were excellent models)!
Because of all of the scheduling issues this winter, it made it very hectic some weeks for delivering files to clients. That's probably the biggest lesson I learned about mini sessions - since the sessions are short, you can book a bunch in one day, but you have to remember that you have a responsibility to each client to deliver files in a certain time frame and need to be able to commit to that. As awesome as it is to have a full schedule of clients, I also have a family to care for and need to make sure I'm not wearing myself too thin.
Another thing I learned is to be prepared for anything! One session I had schedule right after Thanksgiving ended up being a VERY cold day, but because of my hectic schedule and limited availability to reschedule, we needed to move forward with the session. That meant relocating our session to indoors, which is not something I do often. To say I was nervous about it would be an understatement. Shooting outdoors is in my wheelhouse, shooting indoors is much more difficult for me (more issues with lighting and space). I wrapped up that session, and reviewed the session as soon as I got home. I'm probably my biggest critic and was not totally thrilled with the results - the lighting indoors was tough and we didn't have as much space as we would have outside, so I had to use lenses that I wouldn't normally use for family portraits. I was stressed out delivering the gallery, but my client loved the images. The good thing is, I learn from every session and it helps prepare me for these issues in the future! I did get to head outside with their toddler at the end of our session, and got a few awesome shots of him playing outside!
Moving into 2019 I have a few goals for myself, one is to not over-schedule myself. I'm one of those people who hates being late for things, like the idea of it gives me such anxiety. I want to make sure that this year I can spend time with my family, while delivering a top notch product to my clients (even if that means, not scheduling 8 mini sessions in 1 weekend). My other big goal is to not be so critical of myself. In photography there is always room for growth, I find myself questioning my style, but have always had happy clients. If my clients are happy, I know I'm doing something right!
Thanks for stopping by!
~so~