What surprised you the most about owning your own business?
All the behind-the-scenes work. Emailing, bookkeeping, marketing, networking can easily fill up my schedule before I even schedule in the photographing and editing.
What do you like LEAST about your career?
The busy season can easily get the best of me as work piles up. Living in an area that has decent weather five months out of the year makes my job very “feast or famine”, so I have to take work when it’s available. Thankfully the six-day-a-week flexibility and slower winters somewhat balance the busy times.
What do you like BEST about your job!
The flexibility of my schedule and working with people on their happy wedding days!
The best advice for your clients?
Trust me. I won’t hesitate to ask for your thoughts or give direction if I find it necessary to make the best photos for you, but overall the clients that get the best photos from me are ones who bring a “we trust you to do your thing” vibe with minimal directives.
What is your go-to music to work to?
A playlist combo of upbeat rap/pop/electronica. Doomtree always wins in my book, but I edit to TV shows much more than music.
Best advice you’ve received?
Don’t get caught up in jealousy or comparison of what others are doing.
What advice would you give an aspiring woman interested in your career?
It looks like it’s glamorous, but most of the time, it’s not.
What are at least THREE things you cannot live without on a daily basis?
Coffee, iPhone, chatting with my bff who happens to be my hubby. Basic but true.
What does your day normally look like?
There’s no normal here. It’s not uncommon for weekdays involve racing four kids to school in shifts, working for a few hours on my computer, picking a kid up from school, working and balancing a five-year-old at home, picking up the other three kids, maybe working awhile, making dinner, getting kids to bed, working working working into the evening. Sometimes I shoot. Sometimes I go into the studio. But usually, it’s child-wrangling while working on my computer.
What are you looking forward to most at the Rad Photographers Retreat?
Really, all of it! I can’t wait to meet everyone attending and hearing the speakers! I’m pretty sold on the cooked meals, yoga, and massages too!
What is your favorite photo and why?
My favorite photo to-date was a candid taken on my iPhone of my two oldest kids playing at the ocean.
