Latest / The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast / Episode 21 How Wedding Photos Become Family History: Juliana Tomlinson Photography

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Episode 21 How Wedding Photos Become Family History: Juliana Tomlinson Photography · The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to the Preferred List, a podcast about the people behind the best wedding days.
0:04
SPEAKER_02: I'm James, a wedding filmmaker.
0:06
SPEAKER_02: I've spent years in the industry working alongside incredible vendors, and this show is all about real conversations with the one who make it happen.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: Whether you're a vendor or a couple, you'll get honest insight, good stories, and maybe a little inspiration along the way.
0:20
SPEAKER_02: Let's meet today's wedding vendor.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: Jonah, how's it going?
0:23
SPEAKER_00: Hi good, how are you?
0:25
SPEAKER_02: Good, I'm so glad to have you on.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, I am honored to be here.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for the invitation.
0:30
SPEAKER_02: Of course, of course.
0:31
SPEAKER_02: And I do, you know, guys, I'm I'm not really like doing this for me.
0:35
SPEAKER_02: I just want to like throw this out there.
0:37
SPEAKER_02: So we're talking about this.
0:38
SPEAKER_02: I want to highlight vendors in the area that are doing an amazing job.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: And if you haven't seen this wonderful photographer's photos, you need to go look at them right now because they're fantastic.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
0:51
SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: Um, we're gonna get into all things photography, you know, education stuff.
0:57
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be a good episode.
0:58
SPEAKER_02: So uh, you know, grab your cup of coffee or get settled in because we're gonna dive in.
1:03
SPEAKER_02: But before we do, we're here at the booking house, and the booking house is an industrial, modern, chic wedding and event space in Manheim, Pennsylvania, rich with character and history.
1:14
SPEAKER_02: It's originally built in 1884 as the old General Cigar Company warehouse.
1:20
SPEAKER_02: The venue blends historic charm with contemporary style across 15,000 square feet.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: It's centrally located and it's an easy drive from Philadelphia, Westchester, New Jersey, Maryland, and even New York City in under three hours.
1:34
SPEAKER_02: And it serves both local couples and also destination celebrations.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: It's perfect for intimate gatherings or even large events up to 250 guests.
1:42
SPEAKER_02: And the booking house offers separate spaces for your ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception all on one property.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: And you get the whole venue for the whole day.
1:51
SPEAKER_02: Just so fun.
1:52
SPEAKER_02: It's open year-round, and their newly added atrium brings an open air feel without any worry about the weather.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: And they have an experienced caring team that provides in-house bartending and coordinating, and they're dedicated to making every detail seamless so you can enjoy an unforgettable day.
2:10
SPEAKER_02: And I always say this, but I'm just so grateful to these venues.
2:13
SPEAKER_02: We reach out and I'm like, hey, can we host a podcast here?
2:16
SPEAKER_02: Can we film for the day?
2:18
SPEAKER_02: And uh, we're just met with so much um gratitude for including them.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: And I I'm like grateful.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
2:27
SPEAKER_02: It's just so fun to be able to do this at a local venue with local vendors.
2:32
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing because your podcast is all about that being like a preferred vendor list, you know what I mean?
2:37
SPEAKER_00: And being a vendor at these places.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: Uh, yes, it's special to see, especially for me, like consuming most of your podcast uh with the visuals.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: So to see those venues are amazing.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: Well, I appreciate you watching because I'm not sure.
2:52
SPEAKER_02: I'm always curious like what type of person is like a podcast watcher and what type of person is a podcast listener.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: Because I feel like it's a personality thing.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's me.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm video all through.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm a video learner.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, everyone.
3:06
SPEAKER_02: Well, and you told me that, and we'll get into it.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: Your background is so fun.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, but Juliana, thank you so much for being on.
3:15
SPEAKER_02: Um, you run Juliana Tomlinson photography or photo.
3:19
SPEAKER_02: Photography, yes.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, and you have such a cool story.
3:23
SPEAKER_02: We'll dive into all of that.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, just take me back to where all of this started for you and how you even kind of got into the wedding industry.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's amazing.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: So if you are listening or seeing this, you probably noticed the accent.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: So I'm from Brazil.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: I was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: So I was majoring in journalism back there, and I really wanted to go into international journalism.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: So I needed to improve my English.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: And improve, it's me being nice because I needed to learn English.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: So I decided to just throw myself out there and I'm like, I am going to the United States, I'm going to do something.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: I want to speak English.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: And then I became aware of a program called Au Pair Program, which was the only one that I could barely afford.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: And then fast forward uh in 2008, I came to the United States.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: Uh, just my plan was to stay here for six months or a year just to learn English, go back to school and become an international journalist.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: But then I was matched with uh the most amazing host family.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: Love them to pieces.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh, they are my family, my American family.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: I love them as if they were like my own.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: And then they host me and they sponsored me to actually uh transfer my credits from Brazil to here, and then I went to Wilmington University for journalism, TV, and studio production.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: And I had one amazing professor there.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: I will never forget him, Carl, uh, who saw in me much more than what I saw myself in myself.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: And then he's like, No, I'm I'm gonna take you under my wings, you're going to become an amazing videographer, you're going to do cinema, and you're gonna go so this is so funny to me.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: You like kind of teased this before we started recording, and I was like, wait, what?
5:14
SPEAKER_02: I know you basically went to film school in a way.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: I know, it's crazy.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: And I love journalism, and as I mentioned already, everything video, I'm a video learner, I love everything.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: And then in Brazil, I actually hosted a radio show for young adults uh at a Catholic Archdiocese Catholic uh radio show.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: So I stayed there for three years.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh and then I fell in love with communication, so I'm like, okay, yes, let's do this.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: But I didn't have a dime to my name.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: So I couldn't back then here's the dinosaur uh giving out my age.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh back then, all the videos were like created in video cameras, very expensive video cameras, and I couldn't afford it.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: So my professor told me, get a DSOR, practice your settings.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: So when you have the money, you are ready to go with video.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: And I fell in love with photography with the DSLR.
6:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you got a photo camera, basically.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh I got a photo camera and started playing with it.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: And then I fell in love, and which is funny is that when I was little, I didn't actually put two and two together.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: But when I was little, um my dad asked me, I don't know how is that elementary school in the United States when you go from fourth grade to fifth grade that you have to change schools?
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah.
6:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think some might do like fifth and sixth, maybe.
6:33
SPEAKER_02: But yeah.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: So that transition in Brazil was fourth grade, 10, I was 10.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: And my dad asked me, like, what you what would you like as a gift?
6:41
SPEAKER_00: And I asked for a codec.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: So you know, it was just like something fun.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I never had this inner passion, like I'm gonna be a photographer when I grew up, you know.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then all of a sudden, all the dots connected, and I'm like, I'm falling in love with this.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: So I started photography in 2011 when I got married.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, I got a JSOR and then I started taking pictures.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, ah, maybe I can make a business out of it.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: And I started shooting everything and anything, like corporate newborns.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: As you normally do when you first everything.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: And when my son was born, uh, he's our miracle baby.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: We prayed for him, waited for him for over six years.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: So when we finally got pregnant, when he was born, I'm like, you know what?
7:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm not taking chances anymore.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: I want to stay at home with him.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna do my passion.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: So, out of everything, what I love the most is weddings.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna go for it.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: So I was working for a very well-known corporation back then, which was kind of like my security blanket.
7:45
SPEAKER_00: And then I'm like, you know what?
7:47
SPEAKER_00: God already gave me a miracle.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: I have to just trust him.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: I trust that he gave me a talent and a passion.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I went for it.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: So it was 2018 when I went full-time with wedding photography and never looked back.
8:01
SPEAKER_02: That's crazy.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:02
SPEAKER_02: 2018.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:04
SPEAKER_02: So many, so many vendors.
8:06
SPEAKER_02: That 2018 is when we started too.
8:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, really.
8:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: That's when I went full time.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: I started in 2012.
8:12
SPEAKER_02: But it's so funny, like how many vendors, like right around that like 2016, 2017, 2018, like that's when they made the move of like, I'm gonna do this for real.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: Yes, for real.
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no turning back.
8:23
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, right.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: I I I remember like writing on the a post-it and putting in front of my computer.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: These will work or these will work.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: There's no second, there's no other option.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, these will work or these will work.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: What a what a strong post-it.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: I know.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: I should have kept it.
8:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
8:41
SPEAKER_02: That's so fun.
8:41
SPEAKER_02: Well, it worked, it's still working, I guess, right?
8:44
SPEAKER_02: The validation, if you want it.
8:46
SPEAKER_02: Um what I mean, man, there's so many things that I'm like I want to unpack.
8:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, but do you think generally, do you think like back in those early days, or even just like in your kind of film schoolish uh journalism days, like, were you feeling really creative?
9:07
SPEAKER_02: Like, were do you did you think that you were like a creative mind at that point?
9:10
SPEAKER_02: Or like what was that process like?
9:12
SPEAKER_00: Looking back in my life, like there's no other way.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: I have to look back and call myself a creative person.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Um I grew up, I was the type of tire that my parents couldn't afford like extra curriculum uh stuff for myself.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: But my friends in my neighborhood, they did dance and they did theater, and I used to go and watch them and go back home and create something like myself, like a choreography and you know, like a performance of a some type.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: And then I remember convincing my um gym class my teacher, because I was never very into sports.
9:52
SPEAKER_00: Never.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, dance is such a great thing.
9:55
SPEAKER_00: Can I just put a choreography together?
9:57
SPEAKER_00: And then at the end of, you know, like you just give me my grades based on choreography.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: So I got a group of friends together and uh put some dance routine together, and that's how I was created.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: That's a business mind right there.
10:09
SPEAKER_02: It's like, let me just do my own thing and like we'll just make it work.
10:12
SPEAKER_00: I never thought of never thought that way.
10:14
SPEAKER_00: Never.
10:15
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm gonna carve my own path and you're all just gonna be like down for it.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, I never seen that way.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Because I never thought of myself, like looking back, I've never felt like very entrepreneurial that way, but I've always been a type of person that was like, how can I make this a little bit more fun or artistic per se?
10:35
SPEAKER_00: But at school, I was so focused on journalism, thinking that that's what I wanted to do, uh, that I never saw myself with a camera creating art or pretty things.
10:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because the journalism is just like capture the events.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
10:53
SPEAKER_02: And maybe you're telling a little bit of a story.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Bingo.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: I think that's what draw me in.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: Stories.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: I all always loved stories.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: And I remember going to my grandmother's house, she's my muse, but love you.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, and being so into stories, like listening to her stories, like how was it back in the day?
11:15
SPEAKER_00: How did you grow up?
11:16
SPEAKER_00: How did you meet grandpa?
11:17
SPEAKER_00: What did my mom do?
11:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh, like everything, like from slavery, like she used to know the name of princesses, and I'm like, I love that, tell me more.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: So I think his stories were what captivated me.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's so fun.
11:31
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's what I love about wedding films, is like, how can we hear from as many people as possible and fit that into the story of the day?
11:42
SPEAKER_02: Um but there's there's what's the connection then for you from that sort of like journalism?
11:50
SPEAKER_02: You've always maybe kind of been a creative, you're recognizing like maybe you were a little bit entrepreneurial in the beginning stages, right?
11:58
SPEAKER_02: And then it's like you were always kind of drawn in by the stories.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: How does how does wedding photography fit into all that?
12:06
SPEAKER_00: I feel like that's when the big shift it actually came to my business was when I stopped looking at photos as the technicalities that we need.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that you don't need we need those technical skills, but beyond that, like it's not how how can I see James in a beautiful light?
12:26
SPEAKER_00: But how can I see James saying yes to the love of his life?
12:30
SPEAKER_00: How can I create this story of grandma walking in, seeing her for the first time and bawling?
12:36
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I deliver those images, but they are not very technically good.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: If I hand those images to another photographer, uh they would probably point many, many things that I could have done better.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: But to me, those stories are more important.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: So they carry a weight that um sometimes a very well-lit image will not.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: So I feel like this is I don't know, maybe the that has the weight of everything.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: Like when I start, like another passion of mine.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love human development.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: So I try to understand how humans behave and think and the connections and body language, like understand how the body communicates.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: Because for you, we can listen to a voice when you create something from your work, but not from mine.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's still images, like you you cannot hear that moment, you cannot you can feel it in some way, but like you can't exactly it's not like a a live action kind of feel.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: So for me, my mission with my photos uh are more than taking beautiful photos, which is number one, yes, my main focus is going to make my brides and my my couples look and feel amazing, but how can they 50 years down the road feel that connection again, feel that story again?
14:02
SPEAKER_00: And I feel like maybe that's where my passion for storytelling and photography come alive, which is seeing steel images through memories, through feelings.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because though that's how my photos can speak 50 years down the road.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: At least I hope so.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're like, I hope.
14:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: We haven't hit the 50-year mark, so you still got a little bit of time.
14:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, what was it about wedding photo?
14:32
SPEAKER_02: Because it sounded like you tried everything, right?
14:35
SPEAKER_02: And you can make a business.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: I mean, obviously, you can make a business on anything right now, but you can make a business, a photo business, off of any of those niches.
14:43
SPEAKER_02: It could be a family photographer, you could be a newborn photographer, you could do seniors, you could do professional head headshots.
14:50
SPEAKER_02: Um, like there's so many different things that you could do.
14:53
SPEAKER_02: Sounds like you tried almost all of them.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you tried all of them.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: What was different about the weddings?
14:58
SPEAKER_02: And maybe it's a little bit of something we've kind of like hinted on a little bit with the story.
15:03
SPEAKER_02: Um, but it drew you in to be like, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this.
15:08
SPEAKER_02: Like this is gonna be my thing.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: I love stories, as I mentioned, but I'm a very romantic person, like a sentimental person.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: And the idea of photographing somebody's legacy, there's something so special there, like how these families started.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I could photograph families and show like your family now, but how did that start?
15:33
SPEAKER_00: So that sentiment, that feeling of being able uh to tell somebody's a story, like a family.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: This is the date your family started.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: You're you're talking like a videographer.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: I literally I'm just sitting here and I'm like, you are literally taking like a video approach to a still image.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
15:55
SPEAKER_02: And it's kind of like it's blowing my mind up a little bit.
15:58
SPEAKER_02: Maybe because uh not maybe, you for sure are because like you're saying stuff, and I'm like, that's what I do, that's what I do, that's what I'm looking for.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: And might not surprise you that I like to introduce a lot of movement in my photos because of it.
16:11
SPEAKER_02: I'm not surprised at all.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I'm not surprised at all, and that's probably why I like your images so much, because you can just see there's just like there's something different.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I'm not saying like if you're a photographer and you're listening and and you've only posed your couples in maybe that more editorial style, um big, uh big hard-hitting image kind of vibe, totally fine.
16:37
SPEAKER_02: And there's couples that want that.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
16:39
SPEAKER_02: For me though, and it sounds like for you as well, I want the couple that's gonna have fun if I'm like, hey, run around and chase each other, hey, run to each other and like pick like not pick each other up because you can't both be picked up, but just like doing like a lot of stuff where we're seeing them like interacting with each other.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's just something special about that.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's why I decided to study body language more.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh, once I understood that my pictures are telling a story, I need to understand how the bodies are telling that story because again, I don't have the video, I don't have the audio, yeah, right?
17:18
SPEAKER_00: I have a steel images.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: So this can say a story.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: This can say a story, this can tell your story.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: I got a lot of great so your body, like if I'm sitting here, you're gonna pick up a story.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: If I'm picking here, here's a story.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: So your body can carry that information.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: So understanding how humans behave, humans behave, and understanding how our body communicates, then I'm able to kind of like pose, quote unquote, because everybody needs direction.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: So I will start with a posing in mind, but then there's a movement behind there, like kind of like instead of saying in the beginning, of course, I start with half a posey like I couldn't remember anything.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: And that was another problem.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: Like I used to blank in the middle of a session, like oh yeah, like what pose comes next?
18:07
SPEAKER_00: What pose comes next?
18:08
SPEAKER_00: So when I understand body language, I can just kind of like guide them to be at that moment, and maybe that's why you cat catch so much of disconnections and movements in my photos, because then instead of saying, like, okay, James, just put your nose on her tampo, freeze, and then I'll take a picture.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna say, Hey James, on three.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: I would like you to take a step towards what's your wife's name?
18:30
SPEAKER_01: Christina.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask you to take a step towards Christina.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: You're just gonna hug her as tight as you can and just rub your nose right here into her tampo.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: That gives me the same quote unquote pose, but I don't have you stiff like this.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have you kind of like move into it.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: And then we get all that, which is so fun.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
18:52
SPEAKER_02: I'm always a huge fan, and maybe you could speak into this a little bit.
18:55
SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't know when this is going out, but we just posted a short about this.
19:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm curious your take on it, though.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: It's like I love when we work with photographers that are able to direct in a way that's like almost removing the creative from like the moment that's happening.
19:16
SPEAKER_02: So the moment can just play out in all these different ways.
19:19
SPEAKER_02: We can have all this different motion and and stuff.
19:22
SPEAKER_02: And I'm totally fine with a post-photo, it's totally fine.
19:26
SPEAKER_02: But uh, for the majority of like that maybe pseudo session that we have with the couple, it's like, hey, try this, go here, do this.
19:36
SPEAKER_02: But we're all just like kind of staying back and just letting them kind of like do one of these dances together.
19:42
SPEAKER_02: Um, we get so much from that type of uh direction.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: And I'm I'm guessing that you are kind of in that same realm too.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: Yes and no.
19:55
SPEAKER_00: I believe that there's a moment for both, especially with me kind of like most of the weddings.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: I have to lead the couple into something.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we have like five minutes for all the portraits.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: So I what I usually say, I start with the pose because I want to deliver those, you know, looking at the camera wants those portraits that probably gonna go at grandma's house, you know, at the world.
20:22
SPEAKER_02: And if you don't get those, grandma's gonna be like, this photographer is terrible.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: I know.
20:26
SPEAKER_02: I don't know why she talks like that, but she does.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: And also, like, I want to deliver a variety.
20:31
SPEAKER_00: I want you to have the those portraits, but also remember the story behind it.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: So I should for both.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: So we start with the pose and then I go from then in a move.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: One thing that drives me a little bit crazy is that sometimes when I'm working at fancy venues, especially, they have a bridal assistant, which is another level of a venue coordinator, but it's to assist the bride, and they want to carry the bride everywhere.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: So those are the in-between moments that I miss.
20:57
SPEAKER_02: Like because I'm like, Let her hold the dress or like let him hold it.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Let them just walk so I can stay back and just kind of like take that picture of them, like just breathing out the air, you know, the final moment.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: So those are the things that I am like I shoot for both.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: I will guide you, I will tell you what to do with your hands, but I also want you to move your hands freely so you can be you.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: One of my missions, my biggest mission, I would say, is that when you look back at your wedding gallery, I want you to see you.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: I want to see James and Christina.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: When it's a James and Christina gallery, uh, you will see consistency because again, it goes back to technicalities and ability to tell tell a story.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, so you're going to see consistency, and I encourage every couple out there to ask for galleries, look for those galleries, know exactly what to expect, but uh expect to see you when you look back, not a version of you.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: If I'm again, if This is what you want.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Find a photographer that will do that type of work.
22:05
SPEAKER_00: But if you want to see you 50 years down the road, how you were looking when you were 20, 30s, or whatever, you know, it's important for you to not be overly posed or overly moved.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: You know, just to be yourself.
22:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, and I think um they might not understand it completely as a couple who's maybe listening, like, that all sounds nice.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if I really like it, really makes sense.
22:31
SPEAKER_02: But I think down the road is when it will make sense.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
22:35
SPEAKER_02: Like it might not be right now, but like down the road, and you're like looking back, you're like, oh, I remember how that moment felt.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: Just the same as like I would want our couples to feel the same from their videos.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: Like remembering the feeling, the emotion, and all of that stuff that comes from.
22:48
SPEAKER_00: That answers the question that you asked me, why weddings, and that's why.
22:53
SPEAKER_00: I want you to 50 years down the road, or whenever a hard moment arrives, because hard moments in your married life will arise, I want you to look back and remember how happy you were, how your face was, how your you know fat felt.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: Something like today we don't want to see those things, but when your face is wrinkled and the fat's no longer there, you want to, you will want to remember that.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: So, yes, we all want to look our best on the wedding photos, and I am here for it.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: That's the reason why I go beyond just posing.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: I go, you know, and study body language, but I want you to remember you as you, and that's the reason why I chose wedding photography.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, I want people to look back in those photos and be the strength of their relationship, like how in love we were on that day.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: That's the day that, you know, we saw so-and-so for the last time because we know how many times this happens.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Like weddings have this power to gather families that you don't see often.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes it's going to be the last time you see somebody.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: And having those photos, like being able to provide families, those photos mean the world to me.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:13
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it takes like a little bit of a more heartfelt approach to what might be like a formality and family photos, even just something like that, something as simple as that.
24:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm curious, over the course of your career, even like before the like full-timeness of your photo business, how has your style maybe changed over the years?
24:37
SPEAKER_02: How have how has your approach maybe changed over the years?
24:42
SPEAKER_00: Many, many things.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: Many, many things changed.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: I always wanted to be a light in Airy was something that attracted me from the get-go.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: But it was one of those, like not as many with colors, but with how much um light I let in.
24:59
SPEAKER_00: So my highlights were very blown out, you know, like the you couldn't see the details uh as much.
25:05
SPEAKER_02: So in the if you're listening and you don't know what that means, like picture the bright parts of the picture just not really having any information, just being like kind of white.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that to me was it.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: Like I never was because I I remember having a period of time that light and area could also bean that your greens were kind of like grays.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: I never liked that approach, but colours to me was always like, I want my collars to be the greens to be greens, you know, but the blacks were not always black, let's say that way.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: And then as I was evolving and I was studying more and trying to break into a different market, um, obviously to start charging more and start, you know, going to that full time and see growth, I start analyzing photos.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, what does Rebecca Yale, I don't know, Kate Kate, uh Katie Mary, uh Jose Villas images have in common.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: And I saw like all of them, like, oh, their highlights are actually in place, you know, like they are not blowing out, you know, the details.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: So I start paying more attention into those technical things because art can be very um different for like you can interpret art.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: Like if you go to art school and they say, like, oh, keep the highlights on zero, whatever.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: You have the chance as an artist to do whatever you want.
26:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, this is art, and I'm okay with that.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: So that was my excuse back then.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, no, this is my art.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: I want to be this way, it's going to stay that way.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is how I do it.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: But then I'm like, if I want to grow on this path, I need to change a few things here.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: So I changed a little bit about, I feel like the baseline of my work has never changed drastically.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: But I became a little bit more um, okay, if this room has lots of reds, it's going to reflect reds.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: And I have to be okay with that.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: I have to minimize, you know, because I studied the technical parts of it of it to give my brides, you know, an even skin tone.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: But she chose this room for a reason.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go ahead and incorporate that into her photos because then it goes back to the storytelling, like how was the day actually?
27:24
SPEAKER_00: Actually, yeah, I love that.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I feel like this is the main part when it comes to the technical part of my my my work.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: So if there's a photographer that's listening, that's maybe like back in that 2011, 2012 you where you're like just kind of getting your footing, kind of figuring stuff out, how you want to do things.
27:43
SPEAKER_02: What would be your best advice for them to get started, figure out where they fit in kind of the market and style kind of way?
27:53
SPEAKER_02: Um, or maybe even just like general advice for like that newer photographer that's out there?
27:59
SPEAKER_02: Just a start, period.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: Mic drop, I'm out of here.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, as a somebody that overthinks everything, um, it took me forever to take steps into growing.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: Because besides overthinking, I am a very honest person.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: So if I tell you that I like yellow, I don't allow myself to not like yellow.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: And as humans, we develop, we change, we are allowed to change.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: That's part of growth.
28:29
SPEAKER_02: So you're still stuck there liking yellow, and you don't actually like yellow.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: Right, exactly.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: So, what is the point of, oh, I'm not, I'm not going to start anything now because 10 years ago I said I don't like yellow.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: And yellow is the color of the year.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not doing anything.
28:45
SPEAKER_00: So just start.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: Like, do it and grow it, you know, learn as you go.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Just do it.
28:52
SPEAKER_00: Like if this is something that you want to start, especially today, when we were started, there was a lot of competition, but nothing compares with what we've seen today.
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Nothing compares.
29:05
SPEAKER_00: So starting today might be scary, but just start and then you know, hire somebody to hold your hands and walk the path with you, somebody that has already walked that path and teaches you uh you don't have to do this alone.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: But start.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: I feel like this would be my only advice.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Like grow as you go, just start.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: That's never too old.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Start on I I I know this is probably like you've seen this many, many, many times online, but start on a Wednesday.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: Start when you're 40.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: Start when you are 60, start when you're overweight.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: Uh just start.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:44
SPEAKER_02: It's it's the hardest thing to do is be like, okay, I'm actually gonna take this idea and run with it.
29:50
SPEAKER_02: Because I I'm I'm huge on like ideation, like big thought.
29:56
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, there's probably like an Enneagram for that or whatever.
29:58
SPEAKER_02: But um, I I love coming up with the ideas, but when it comes to like doing the thing, I mean this podcast was an idea in 2021 or 2020 or something.
30:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, and it like it's 2025.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: So I see.
30:15
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
30:16
SPEAKER_02: It might be 2026.
30:17
SPEAKER_02: I don't know when this is coming out, but if you listen to this, you only listen to this because he started yeah, and then you'll have 40 episodes just waiting to be edited, which is uh fun thing.
30:27
SPEAKER_00: And there's one more thing that I don't want to go without saying.
30:31
SPEAKER_00: You are allowed to change as you go.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: Don't think that because once you said something, and now like you can change your mind, because that's part of life, that's part of growth.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: If I was still the same person as I was 10 years ago, one I would have survived the wedding industry because it's ever evolving.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: But also it would be miserable because we go through this life and we have to accept changes.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:57
SPEAKER_02: Just dang, we're dropping some deep.
30:59
SPEAKER_02: I'm not dropping anything.
31:00
SPEAKER_02: You're dropping some deep stuff.
31:02
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
31:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you're making everyone think.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: I mean, hopefully, I'm thinking.
31:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh so when you're in this process, I mean, you you've done, you know, a couple weddings, right?
31:16
SPEAKER_02: A few.
31:17
SPEAKER_02: A few.
31:17
SPEAKER_02: Um you've obviously learned um over the years.
31:22
SPEAKER_02: What would be your top tip for couples when they're trying to find like, how do we find the right person?
31:29
SPEAKER_02: How do we find like what style we like?
31:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, I know you mentioned the thing about the the full galleries.
31:36
SPEAKER_02: Huge, huge fan of that.
31:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, but what else do you have for couples that they can take and run with when they're like in this planning process?
31:45
SPEAKER_02: They're just like, man, I just want to make sure I pick the right person.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter the style you like, you have to like that person you're working with, especially on a wedding day.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: You are going to spend more time with your photographer and videographer than you probably will with each other.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: Because we are there from before you actually step into that dress.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: So um making sure you talk to somebody, like this is one part of my uh client experience.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't only talk on the phone, I like to talk on a FaceTime call so people can see my expressions, can see how I move.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm very expressive.
32:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, if you are somebody very conservative and very quiet, don't hire Juliana.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: And that is okay.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: That is okay.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to hire me.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, as long as you 50 years down the road, you look back and you like not only love your photos, but you love when you close your eyes and like, oh my gosh, I can't feel that moment with so good.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, I feel like this is this would be my best advice for couples.
32:48
SPEAKER_00: Just for an example, many, many years ago, um my dream was to go to the Bahamas, and then my husband and I saved enough money to do a cruise to the Bahamas.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: We fought the entire trip.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: We fought the entire trip.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: It was awful.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: When I look back of those, look back at those photos.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: We were actually at one of the most beautiful places.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful, beautiful weather, beautiful beaches.
33:13
SPEAKER_00: All I can feel are the struggles that we had during those trips.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: That during that trip, I don't want that to be what it's left for you on your wedding day.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: Like closing your eyes, and I say this jokely to pretty much everybody who inquires with me.
33:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't want you to look back at your photos and be like, oh, the annoying photographer that was following me the whole day.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: I want you to be like, oh my god, my day was so amazing.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: I had fun with my girls, you know, look at this photo of me looking at Luke or whatever.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to be reminded, I don't want to be somebody's memory, like a bad memory.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: So for that to happen, you need to connect more than a style, because your style is gonna be probably um ever evolving.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: The only thing, the only tip I would give to you when it comes to style is thinking in the future.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: Because right now, maybe you'll love all the strandy things, but will your house of 30 years, 10 years from now, would you be proud to put those photos at your wall?
34:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh, would that fit your house?
34:21
SPEAKER_00: Those are the things that I like thinking.
34:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the longevity.
34:25
SPEAKER_02: I've I do really appreciate the like legacy mindset that you have on it.
34:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:29
SPEAKER_02: Because it's it's way more than just like that initial viewing.
34:33
SPEAKER_02: There's gonna be excitement on that.
34:35
SPEAKER_02: Like when you first look at your wedding photos, I remember like we get ours back just from family photos, and it's like, oh, I wonder how they turned out, you know.
34:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's like later on down the road, are you still like if it's your phone background, like, gosh, I love that photo.
34:52
SPEAKER_02: I love that moment.
34:53
SPEAKER_02: I can remember, like you said, I can remember how it felt when we were in that moment.
34:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, I I'd almost think that that mindset is like the story component.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: Because even I'm sitting here thinking, like, in real time, in actual real time, like right now, I'm like, are couples thinking that way about their photos?
35:16
SPEAKER_02: Or are they just looking at it as a still?
35:20
SPEAKER_02: Do you know what I mean?
35:21
SPEAKER_02: Like, are they are they going back and saying, like, like as they're looking at the photo, like I remember how I felt and what we were doing, and like the prompt and the pose and the moment and what he whispered in my ear when I started laughing and and you know, giggling, and then and then we chased each other, and like whatever.
35:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, do you think do you think they're like thinking that way?
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not when I immediately deliver the gallery.
35:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes, like, when I look a photo of myself, I'm like, oh my god, I have double chin.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: But when I look at my double chin from 10 years ago, uh, it's a different story for me.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: It was like, oh my gosh, 10 years ago, I was just struggling to have my son.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: My body looked different for a reason, and I don't care as much anymore.
36:08
SPEAKER_00: So I really hope that yes, I can give you the best of both worlds.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: I want you to open your gallery and be like, oh my gosh, it looks so cute.
36:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I look amazing as a bride.
36:19
SPEAKER_00: But my main goal is for you to look back again, 10, 15, whatever, how many years down the road?
36:25
SPEAKER_00: And don't worry much about your double chin or your dress or whatever.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: But the things that he said to you to make you laugh on that day.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: And that's why, to me, it's so important to catch those moments.
36:39
SPEAKER_00: And back to my teaching roots, which I love teaching other photographers too.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: There's a trend right now, a movement in the wedding industry that is becoming popular to turn weddings into vogue shoots magazines.
36:54
SPEAKER_00: And I believe that there's a time for both.
36:57
SPEAKER_00: Like talk to your couple, what is the direction?
37:01
SPEAKER_00: What what what do they want from there?
37:03
SPEAKER_00: What is the style that you want?
37:05
SPEAKER_00: But I don't tend to come to wedding days and turn that into photo shoots.
37:11
SPEAKER_00: I believe that as an artist, I need an outlet, and that's why I pay to go to content creation days.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: I pay to go to uh style shoots and do that artistically.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: And then if I want to do, I can ask the model to jump from the chandeliers if I want to.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh which is not my which is not my case.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, you know what I mean.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: On the wedding day, my focus is not on growing my portfolio.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: On the wedding day, my focus is to tell the couple's story.
37:41
SPEAKER_02: I think we need a round of applause, everyone in the audience.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: There's no one here, it's just us.
37:46
SPEAKER_02: No, but it's so true, because it's like you could take any of those moments and think in real time, like, man, this is gonna be a portfolio piece.
37:57
SPEAKER_02: But it's like, okay, but is that serving the couple?
38:00
SPEAKER_02: Or is it just you being like uh selfish in a way?
38:05
SPEAKER_00: I think there's a space for both, like especially for people who are starting today.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: Those weddings are what's going to give you portfolio for your next wedding, and then the next wedding.
38:15
SPEAKER_00: And one thing that I teach my students doing uh include uh inside of Elevate, my coaching program for photographers, is that at every wedding, you have to walk away with at least five images that will serve your next client.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: Meaning that's not for that particular couple, but your next couple.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: That's how you grow, right?
38:34
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what you have right now, and you're gonna multiply.
38:38
SPEAKER_00: But but you can never do a disservice for that couple or those vendors or whoever trusted you and paid you money to be there in order to serve the next couple that it's not your client just yet.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: So you have to be able to do both.
38:56
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you can grow, you can create strategies for growth, which is a must if you want to stay in this industry, but never at the expense of the client that you're serving on that day.
39:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, it's yeah, that's great advice.
39:12
SPEAKER_02: We can't have the current client, you know, set at a lower pedestal than the potential next one.
39:20
SPEAKER_02: Because I think the one that we have in front of us, we need to do everything we can to serve them to the best of our abilities.
39:27
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I'm curious if you could then pack, like we were talking a little bit before we started recording about this idea of like high-end luxury, like what does it mean?
39:40
SPEAKER_02: What is it, what it's not, like, even just a little bit of your thoughts on it too, kind of not loving that like luxury word, but it's still a thing that so many people are kind of throwing out there.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: The reason why I don't love the word luxury is that I believe that everything that is a non-necessity is a luxury for somebody.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: For example, for somebody who doesn't have ways to buy food, going to Walmart might be a luxury.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, for some people, going to Chanel, it's a luxury.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: But that's the reason why I don't like the word luxury, because we are always luxury for somebody.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's because my heart is so much in serving people that I believe that serving is the luxury part.
40:28
SPEAKER_00: So, and also like the word luxury became I don't know, so popular in the wedding industry that it's hard to define what luxury is.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh what is luxury?
40:39
SPEAKER_00: How much you charge?
40:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh, how do you start?
40:41
SPEAKER_02: When we were talking about it, it my initial response, if you had to ask me like what does it mean, I'd be like, Well, you're charging X amount, and whatever X, I don't know what X amount is, which is probably your point, but it is that like X amount is some form of luxury high-end um service-based business pricing.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: I believe that you become a luxury vendor when you serve at a luxury service, like in a service in a way.
41:17
SPEAKER_00: So that's where luxury comes to me.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: Not how many flowers you have in the room, but how you treat that client, how that client, how that client is gonna talk about you when you are not in that room.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how did you make them feel if they feel their best version on luxury?
41:35
SPEAKER_00: That's why like to me is different.
41:38
SPEAKER_02: To your point though, like they're if someone is charging$2,500 for a wedding video, I don't know what's in it, what it includes, what it doesn't, but$2,500 wedding video, to your point, that could be luxury to somebody.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
41:54
SPEAKER_02: Just the same as someone who charges$12,500 for a wedding video, could be the same exact video.
42:03
SPEAKER_02: But that's, you know, a drop in the bucket for whatever that wedding.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: Or you could be the most expensive vendor on that entire wedding because somebody, like I had clients like that, like you are my non-negotiable, and my price is high, and they saved for me.
42:22
SPEAKER_00: But then when I walked into the room, they didn't have as many decorations, they didn't have as many flowers, they didn't have as many things because they wanted me.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: Tell me that's not a luxury.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was their luxury.
42:34
SPEAKER_00: So I am somebody's luxury, and that's maybe that's the reason why I have such a hard time when it comes to the word luxury.
42:42
SPEAKER_00: And then when I teach, I try not to use, even though a lot of people ask me to go and speak and stages about like how to break into the luxury market and things like that.
42:52
SPEAKER_00: But to me, it's more like how can you serve so well that you can elevate your prices by elevating your work, by elevating your client experience.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: So I try to shift the word luxury to ideal client because what is ideal to you might not be ideal to me, might not be ideal to Johnny down the road.
43:11
SPEAKER_02: So true.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: And it could be luxury to somebody.
43:14
SPEAKER_02: Because that that same scenario that I laid out, that$2,500 price point, that could be the ideal client for that videographer.
43:24
SPEAKER_02: Just the same as$12,500 might be the ideal for the Johnny down the street.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
43:30
SPEAKER_00: As if$3,000 sometimes is the ideal for somebody else.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: So uh that's my pet peeve when we comes to the word luxury.
43:37
SPEAKER_02: So what does it mean to elevate your service, your photography, your care of the client?
43:45
SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's so many different ways you could like take it, but what does it mean to elevate?
43:49
SPEAKER_00: So when I'm talking about elevating my portfolio, for example, because yes, to grow, I need to go from point A to B.
43:57
SPEAKER_00: So I have to have a trajectory, right?
43:59
SPEAKER_00: And How can I do that?
44:00
SPEAKER_00: I can do that with my portfolio.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: So let's say again, I come to that wedding that I initially charged, I don't know, three thousand dollars.
44:08
SPEAKER_00: And uh that wedding doesn't have as many flowers, doesn't have as many decorations, many interesting points.
44:15
SPEAKER_00: And when I say interesting, it's kind of like to my next level client, for example.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I can charge more.
44:23
SPEAKER_00: How can I make that amazing so my next client can be attracted to my images, but my current client still loves it?
44:33
SPEAKER_00: One simple example for uh that I can give you some weddings that have uh a higher budget, they may have flowers at the bar, they have menu drink, drink menus, they have like specific things that a lower budget wedding don't have.
44:51
SPEAKER_00: But if they have one flower arrangement that I can move around, I can elevate my own photos.
44:58
SPEAKER_00: So here's my thing: I will take the photo as the room was because again, my point, storytelling, yeah.
45:06
SPEAKER_00: How did they choose, why they chose the way it is.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: But for my next five, my my next wet uh uh dream clients, my five photos that I have to take for my next marketing piece, I grabbed that one maybe flower arrangement in the room, go to that bar, ask for the drink.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: They don't have a menu, that's fine.
45:27
SPEAKER_00: But I photographed that drink in a beautiful way against that flower arrangement that elevates my images to my next client, but I did not do a disservice for my current one.
45:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
45:40
SPEAKER_00: Must to the opposite.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: Now they have images there are like I I photographed, for example, I photographed a wedding at a fire hall in 2012, I want to say.
45:52
SPEAKER_00: If you see the full gallery, you're gonna be like, whoa.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: But when I was growing my business, I didn't show the full gallery.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: I delivered the bath gallery, I cut it to my client.
46:02
SPEAKER_00: But the tight shots with, you know, a little light on the back, a little flower here, a little, I don't know, let's say if the fireplace was on, which wasn't.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: But those are the photos that I show.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: I, you know, photographed very tight images of details, and those were the ones I showed.
46:20
SPEAKER_00: Am I lying?
46:21
SPEAKER_00: No, I made that room look better, so therefore I have the right to show what I did.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: It's my responsibility to make any type of budget wedding look elevated.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: Luxury, up to you.
46:36
SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll leave the word up to you.
46:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
46:38
SPEAKER_00: But it's my job.
46:39
SPEAKER_02: I think it's a it's a mindset, it's a really solid business mindset, even just on that like 3,000-foot view of like, here's my wedding vendor business, there's gonna be hundreds of ways that you can elevate.
46:54
SPEAKER_02: You can elevate the the systems that you have, you can elevate the editing process that you do if you're a creative like us.
47:01
SPEAKER_02: Um, but it seems like you're balancing delicately, you're you're balancing this idea of like, how can I serve this current couple the best that I can while also making sure that if it's not the like ideal space, not that the couple isn't amazing, but you're giving yourself a chance to see like, okay, if I just kind of like angle this way a little bit, I get rid of maybe a little bit of clutter that's in the corner.
47:32
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
47:32
SPEAKER_02: And I'm able to see, like, okay, my next potential client would see what I can do with this image.
47:42
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
47:42
SPEAKER_00: And another thing that people uh don't think is that when you are working at a wedding, your bride and groom are the ones who paid the bill.
47:52
SPEAKER_00: But if you shift your mindset to treat the other vendors in the room as if they were your clients per se, and serve them in the same way, your wedding business is going to grow.
48:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking, of course, through uh the lens of a photographer, but um, if you are a DJ and then the way you can serve a photographer is that never announce the briding room without the team in the room.
48:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, next time I have a briding room asking for a referral, guess who I'm going to pass the name along.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: So I try to serve my planners, for example, sometimes, like especially in the beginning, I didn't work with design planners with more like venue coordinators or something like that.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: I never treated them less than they put the work.
48:42
SPEAKER_00: I walk into a room and I ask, how can I serve you today?
48:44
SPEAKER_00: Is that anything that the venue needs to, you know, photograph photographs of?
48:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, how did you do you want me to photograph this table in a certain way?
48:54
SPEAKER_00: They got blown away because apparently many people don't ask them.
48:57
SPEAKER_00: And for me, it's kind of like it's like not even a second thought.
49:03
SPEAKER_00: Like, how can I serve you?
49:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and uh this is another way too.
49:06
SPEAKER_00: I want to make the work of the people that I'm working that wedding together the best.
49:13
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end, a lot of vendors don't have anything other than the photos and videos.
49:17
SPEAKER_00: So I want to serve them too.
49:19
SPEAKER_00: So uh this is another way that you can grow your wedding and go to the next level, like elevating not only for your couples and for your future clients, but serving the the ones that are in the room without thinking, like, oh my gosh, but Anna, this venue coordinator, only have 500 followers on Instagram.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah guess what?
49:35
SPEAKER_00: Someday she's probably gonna have 50,000.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: Grow together, serve together, you know, like holding hands and grow together.
49:43
SPEAKER_02: So, in the context of, you know, you're you're an artist, like you're creative at heart, but you're also in some ways business savvy entrepreneurial spirit that you have.
49:53
SPEAKER_02: Just curious, like in that context of elevating our business, how how are you managing kind of that artist side and that that business side?
50:04
SPEAKER_00: I think when I look, everything like for photography comes to your art.
50:08
SPEAKER_00: Your art is your business.
50:10
SPEAKER_00: So a way for me comes again to have like paying attention to exit signs behind a subject, things like that is gonna elevate my images.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: But then um when it comes to the business, that is completely intertwined because uh for me in order for me to grow, I have to sell my art.
50:32
SPEAKER_00: This is you know, this is what I sell.
50:35
SPEAKER_00: But um I cannot heavily only look into how to make better images if my systems are not in place.
50:44
SPEAKER_00: If when somebody inquires with me because they saw my beautiful work on Instagram, highly curated, and they don't listen, they don't hear back from me for a week.
50:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:56
SPEAKER_00: Or uh my emails are all template that they feel like, oh my gosh, AI replied this.
51:02
SPEAKER_00: You can even see the long dashes.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: I know.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: Right?
51:05
SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh, those long dashes.
51:06
SPEAKER_01: That's like a yeah.
51:08
SPEAKER_01: Don't send an email with a long dash.
51:09
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
51:10
SPEAKER_00: And goes back to luxury.
51:11
SPEAKER_00: This is luxury to me, like taking last wedding so I can reply to an email.
51:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm not gonna lie and say that I don't have systems in place.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: I do have kind of like a skeleton of a uh a first response, but I'm gonna take time to read that that inquiry and I'm gonna make that personal.
51:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm gonna take the time to go into a phone call with that person, understand those needs, those wants, and see if I'm the one for them and say no if I need to.
51:39
SPEAKER_00: And then that's how I grow my business.
51:41
SPEAKER_00: Like not forgetting that I'm selling my art, but I have to have a business to survive.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: And if I want to charge what I charge, I have to deliver more than pretty images.
51:57
SPEAKER_00: It has to be an overall experience at the end of the day.
52:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
52:02
SPEAKER_02: And I I would say let AI take care of the like formality stuff.
52:06
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
52:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, like you don't need to have like if it can fill out the person's name and then you can go in and pull the the stuff that's personal to or you can send it like an immediate response, like thank you for replying, all you know, pre-filled, I'll be in touch in whatever many hours you need to actually sit down.
52:26
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm not against AI.
52:27
SPEAKER_00: I love AI, my life changed.
52:29
SPEAKER_02: It also for editing?
52:31
SPEAKER_00: I do not use for editing.
52:32
SPEAKER_00: This is one thing that I went back and forth.
52:34
SPEAKER_00: This is another thing that changed a lot in my business.
52:36
SPEAKER_00: I used to have an editor um and just added the anchors, sent to my editor, come back, and then I retouched everything.
52:44
SPEAKER_02: And then I went- Makers being like, maybe explain that first.
52:48
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
52:49
SPEAKER_00: So I would add it, let's say you want to deliver a gallery of a thousand images.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: I would go in and add it 200.
52:55
SPEAKER_00: Like if the lights change, the location changed, or something changed, I would add it one of those.
53:00
SPEAKER_00: So my edit, my editor would go back into my gallery and kind of like added those images based on that anchor.
53:08
SPEAKER_00: So that those are that that's what I mean by anchoring those images to make the work of the editor easier in that way.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: But then I used to touch everything again.
53:17
SPEAKER_00: So I lost money, time, and you know.
53:20
SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say, like, you gotta you can't, I don't know, maybe you can.
53:23
SPEAKER_02: I I don't think I could ever like send anything out without like going back in.
53:28
SPEAKER_00: And that's a good reason why is because of the artist in me.
53:32
SPEAKER_00: So I understood that I do want to outsource.
53:37
SPEAKER_00: I want to make my life easier.
53:38
SPEAKER_00: And the end of the day, I have to think as a CEO as a company.
53:41
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, yeah.
53:42
SPEAKER_02: Even as a creative, like there's there's only so many ways that you can scale and grow a business.
53:49
SPEAKER_00: Yes, because at the end of the day, I'm selling my art.
53:51
SPEAKER_00: So my art needs to have my touch.
53:54
SPEAKER_00: And once I understood that, yeah, I was able to outsource other things, like somebody to clean my house, like somebody to do something else.
54:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm curious, this is just coming to me, like, I don't know, there's like a lot of in real-time things today, but how much team associate shooters are you versus team like edit so I can shoot more?
54:17
SPEAKER_00: I never I never try to grow my business on that route.
54:21
SPEAKER_02: On the associate?
54:22
SPEAKER_00: Associate.
54:23
SPEAKER_00: I don't have associate foot shooters.
54:24
SPEAKER_00: I try, I think about it more often than you imagine, but then it goes back to my passion.
54:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, this is my main passion.
54:31
SPEAKER_00: I love doing this.
54:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm not ready to let go.
54:34
SPEAKER_02: So when I It's just such an interesting, like it's just so weird to me because I'm sorry, I jumped in.
54:39
SPEAKER_02: Oh no, no problem.
54:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, as a creative, so if you're a videographer or you're a photographer, uh, there's only so much you can do.
54:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
54:49
SPEAKER_02: Aside from just charging more.
54:51
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes I just feel like it's just like uh, you know, running the the wheel, you know, spinning.
54:59
SPEAKER_02: It's like, okay, well, I guess I could charge more and charge more and charge more, but it's like, I don't know, at some point you just like charge less.
55:06
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
55:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
55:06
SPEAKER_02: So I just like you have to like, how do you scale?
55:10
SPEAKER_02: How do you grow your business and like all that?
55:11
SPEAKER_02: I mean, like oh my gosh, you're like, you're like, let's go.
55:14
SPEAKER_00: How much time do you have?
55:15
SPEAKER_00: Because you're teaching you're touching the points that I absolutely love talking about, uh, which is growth and purpose and running a business based on your life, not a life based on your business.
55:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, I do have friends that has so much success with um bring associate teams and they make a lot of money.
55:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh but they are great at letting go of the art.
55:40
SPEAKER_00: You have to.
55:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
55:41
SPEAKER_00: When you bring somebody else, you have to understand that like even though like nowadays most of my second shooters are past students, meaning that when you go through Elevate, you pretty much see my entire business.
55:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, myself inside out.
55:54
SPEAKER_00: Like I open and put everything on the table.
55:57
SPEAKER_00: So you know my thought process, you know my actual processes, you know how I shoot, you know how I think.
56:03
SPEAKER_00: So those second shooters come now as past students, knowing my business, knowing who I am, knowing everything.
56:12
SPEAKER_00: But if I put that expectation on them, it's gonna frustrate all of the all of us because they did come as a passive student who knows everything, but they are not me.
56:21
unknown: Yeah.
56:21
SPEAKER_02: And I have to let it go.
56:22
SPEAKER_02: That's the thing.
56:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I don't know.
56:25
SPEAKER_02: I've edited some wedding films for friends, and uh, you can do a lot with a little.
56:33
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying that they gave me a little, but just even if it's completely different than the way that I would shoot it day of.
56:41
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I just I I love being a part of all of the pieces.
56:46
SPEAKER_02: And to me, the one thing that I can let go of a little bit is like the culling process one, because I just don't really like it because it's tedious.
56:54
SPEAKER_02: Me neither.
56:55
SPEAKER_02: It's very tedious.
56:56
SPEAKER_02: Um, and we don't have AI for that yet.
56:58
SPEAKER_02: But um the culling process and like the syncing timeline syncing process, because it's not, it's it's a lot less subjective in my mind.
57:09
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it is for you a little bit.
57:10
SPEAKER_00: It's become because it becomes somebody else's book.
57:14
SPEAKER_00: So I'm here writing my book through my perception my perception, right?
57:17
SPEAKER_00: So even though we are looking at the same thing, for example, I'm looking at the camera now, I could be telling the story of that camera sitting in front of me, but you could be talking about the same camera being in front of a light.
57:29
SPEAKER_00: So are we seeing the same thing?
57:31
SPEAKER_00: Definitely, yes.
57:32
SPEAKER_00: But there are different perspectives on that.
57:34
SPEAKER_00: So it goes back to me analyzing the wedding day in the story because that's not subjective.
57:41
SPEAKER_00: Like you telling the story of that couple.
57:43
SPEAKER_00: So um, it's very hard for me to let go and put my name, stamp my name on something.
57:49
SPEAKER_02: It's just such an interesting idea, and I think um people have done different ways of scaling, and it's worked really well.
57:56
SPEAKER_02: And people I know have done it, and they've been like, What have I done?
58:00
SPEAKER_00: And there's some people too.
58:02
SPEAKER_00: Like I scaled my business uh through shooting less, charging more, but being okay at a certain level that others are not.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: Others want more money, yeah, more of everything.
58:16
SPEAKER_00: I want less weddings.
58:18
SPEAKER_00: I want to be able to stay at home more weekends with my son.
58:23
SPEAKER_00: And I had to redefine what luxury was to me.
58:27
SPEAKER_00: What are my dreams, my own version of a success.
58:32
SPEAKER_00: Because for the the longest time I was burning out and in 2023, 2024, actually starting 2023, I had one of the worst episodes of burnout.
58:42
SPEAKER_00: I ended up on the in the hospital, uh having a panic attack, never had any history of anything because I was trying to measure up to a success that was not even a version of my own version of success, was a version of what people were telling me what success was.
58:59
SPEAKER_00: So I had to redefine everything.
59:01
SPEAKER_00: And then what growth is for one, it's not for others.
59:04
SPEAKER_00: So I have friends, again, have beautiful associate teams.
59:08
SPEAKER_00: I had other friends that they make a lot of money in quantity, they shoot a lot of weddings.
59:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's okay.
59:16
SPEAKER_00: Who am I to say who is right around?
59:18
SPEAKER_00: There are other friends who don't even think about education.
59:21
SPEAKER_00: For me, that's what I love.
59:22
SPEAKER_00: I love like having last wedding so I can have more time to kind of like help other people to pursue their dreams and believe that it's possible, go after it.
59:33
SPEAKER_00: But it's a different version of growth.
59:38
SPEAKER_00: And if I could say one thing, one thing alone, other than just start and start today, it's it start today, but you start by saying, What is success to me?
59:51
SPEAKER_00: Because once upon a time, the success was to hit six figures, being dead and that and burnt down so badly and so quickly.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because to me success right now is to be here in the afternoon talking to you and empowering other people.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_00: That's the cell phone.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_00: Being able to go home and take my son to his speed school and you know, calling a friend in the afternoon.
1:00:15
SPEAKER_00: And for the longest, longest time I tried to fit it all because I won that money, that that recognition by the amount of money I was making, that I couldn't be at a lot of birthday parties.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't be on a lot of things.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_00: I missed a lot at wide expense.
1:00:37
SPEAKER_00: And nothing wrong if that's your version of success, as long as it is a clear version of success for you.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_02: That's other I have nothing else.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_02: This has been so good.
1:00:50
SPEAKER_02: Juliana, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_02: Where can people find and follow along and learn more about the things that you're doing in the education space?
1:01:00
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
1:01:01
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this platform.
1:01:02
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for pursuing your dreams so we can be here.
1:01:05
SPEAKER_02: We're here.
1:01:05
SPEAKER_02: We're we made it, Mom.
1:01:06
SPEAKER_02: Look at us.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, this is something that I'm very passionate about.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to learn more about my work or how I help other photographers, you can go to Juliana Tomlinson Photography.com slash for photographers if that's what you want.
1:01:23
SPEAKER_00: Or you can find me on Instagram at Juliana Tomlinson Photography or at Juliana Tomlinson Education.
1:01:29
SPEAKER_00: Please send me a DM because I love connecting with people.
1:01:32
SPEAKER_00: People is what motivates me to do everything.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_00: So send me a DM if you follow me on Instagram.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and all of those links will be down below.
1:01:40
SPEAKER_02: So if you didn't catch that, or you're not sure about the spelling or something like that, it'll all be down in the description.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_02: And uh, it's just been so fun hearing your journey and hearing more about the way that you do things.
1:01:51
SPEAKER_02: It's it's so intentional.
1:01:53
SPEAKER_02: And I don't think that there's a lot of vendors having this intentionality with the way that they run their business and the way that they connect with other vendors and connect with other photographers or other uh, you know, couples, even the couples that they're working with.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_02: There's like so much intentionality with what you do.
1:02:10
SPEAKER_02: It's just so fun.
1:02:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, what do you have that's coming up that you're excited about?
1:02:15
SPEAKER_00: So Elevate is coming up.
1:02:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh, in January, I'm opening uh applications.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_00: So this is always something that I'm so passionate about.
1:02:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Elevate is my signature program for wedding photographers.
1:02:28
SPEAKER_00: It's a coaching program that is live but online.
1:02:31
SPEAKER_00: So we meet weekly, and it I go through an entire process like business and shooting, like how to elevate your portfolio, how to define your ideal client, how to attract those ideal clients, and then you go into marketing, client experience.
1:02:47
SPEAKER_00: There's the whole thing.
1:02:48
SPEAKER_00: So this is my baby.
1:02:49
SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love it.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_00: So I decided to open one one more time.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be my fourth round.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we are open in January and classes start in February.
1:02:58
SPEAKER_00: I am super excited for some speaking engagements that are coming up.
1:03:02
SPEAKER_00: I know.
1:03:03
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna be there together.
1:03:04
SPEAKER_02: I know.
1:03:05
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be so fun.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this is this is funny because I love public speaking, even though I always have terrible butterflies on my stomach.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, it's something I absolutely love.
1:03:15
SPEAKER_00: So those challenges um made me alive.
1:03:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'm looking forward to those.
1:03:21
SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you for sharing a little bit of your passion.
1:03:23
SPEAKER_02: If you're not feeling like excited about what you do or I don't know, all the things, I don't know what you're listening to for the last hour or so.
1:03:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, but if you're watching on YouTube, hey, I know you can see this lovely little setup.
1:03:38
SPEAKER_02: Um, I appreciate you watching.
1:03:39
SPEAKER_02: If you could subscribe, hit that notification bell just so you see and you're aware of the new episodes that are coming out.
1:03:46
SPEAKER_02: And uh when you find one that you love, you can send it to your friends.
1:03:49
SPEAKER_02: If you want to drop a comment down below, you have a question for me or a question for Juliana, and you want to just like start a conversation, I'll be there if you want to do that.
1:03:59
SPEAKER_02: If you're listening on podcasting things, hey, how's it going?
1:04:04
SPEAKER_02: Hope you're having a good day, enjoying your run or your walk or your drive or whatever you're doing.
1:04:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, I appreciate you listening all the way till the end.
1:04:12
SPEAKER_02: You know, it'd be really, really, really amazing if you could leave us a review.
1:04:16
SPEAKER_02: Just let us know how you're liking the show, um, what you like about it, what you've been learning from all of the guests that we've been having on.
1:04:24
SPEAKER_02: That would be incredibly helpful and share it with all of your friends.
1:04:26
SPEAKER_02: That would be cool too.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, but, anyways, that is all for this episode.
1:04:31
SPEAKER_02: We'll catch you next time on the preferred list.
1:04:34
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
1:04:35
SPEAKER_00: Of course.