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You’re Never Done Learning (Even When You’re the One Teaching) · Luxe & Legacy Podcast

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Welcome to the Lux and Legacy Podcast.
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I'm Marie from Marie Elizabeth Photography.
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And I am Amber from Light Live in Photography.
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We created this show for photographers who are ready to run a luxury business with clarity, intention, and elevated artistry.
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Each week we uncover the strategies behind high level brands from shooting and styling to client communication, to marketing, to designing heirloom products that increase your value.
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If you want to attract aligned clients, produce, work with a recognizable aesthetic and build a business that supports the life you want, this podcast will guide you there.
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Let's dive in.
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Welcome back to the Lux and Legacy Podcast.
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Today, we're talking about something that I think is really important, no matter how long you've been in this industry, and that's continuing to learn.
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think there's a funny thing that happens when you've been doing photography for a long time, especially when you become an educator yourself.
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There's almost this idea that you're supposed to know everything now.
But I actually think the longer I do this, the more I realize there's always something to learn from other people.
And this topic felt especially timely because Marie just got back from co-hosting an amazing retreat the Path workshop.
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So obviously, we wanna know all about that.
how did this workshop go? Yeah.
Everything went really well.
Workshops are always so much fun for me.
It's so hard as a creative since we work by ourselves a large majority of the time.
Day to day we're by ourselves, so it's super easy to kinda get stuck and feel like we're in this empty void, and then we tend to overthink all these little things and feel like we're alone, even if it's a subconscious thought.
So just the very act of being around other photographers and hearing their struggles and their wins and their thoughts, it just allows you to not feel alone and that you're in this together, and you have a sense of community.
So my favorite part is always that connection component.
And following that, I always get some kind of creative spark ignited from workshops, because I get to create something that is new or that I don't always get to do.
And even though the session or sessions we photograph at workshops will be unique to the workshop, I might not be able to recreate them for whatever reason back at home.
This act of creating something new, it still does something to my spirit that allows me to go home with more inspiration.
So I always go home feeling rejuvenated, refreshed, and just ready to tack on all the, the things in my business.
Awesome.
What was your favorite part about hosting? My favorite part about hosting was honestly, I just love the hosting aspect of taking care of other photographers.
And Adrianne who is the founder of The Kindred Path, she is so good with thinking of all these little details.
And so I love just being able to take care of the attendees and answer their questions and just be a sounding board for them And what was the energy like there with everyone? Do you feel like it lifted everybody up more? What was the energy like? Yeah, it's funny because the energy, it's always like soft and quiet at first as everyone gets settled in, and then it gets more rambunctious and joyful and excited as the day or days go on.
So it's really fun.
And the last session we did, it was a horse session, actually two horse sessions happening simultaneously.
And so we were really excited about that and just like jumping back and forth between the two sessions.
Everyone...
It was really hot, I will say.
The people who visited Virginia in summer from other states like are not used to the humidity.
So other than the humidity being a factor we were all just bouncing off each other's inspiration.
Was there anything that surprised you? Like something new you learned either from one of your co-hosts or from even one of the attendees? That's a good question.
Anything that surprised me? I don't think so.
I like hearing how people's businesses are structured and set up, and so I don't think anything majorly surprised me.
It's more just "Oh, wow," "Your business is different because X, Y, Z."
You can't photograph in summer 'cause it's too hot where you are, or you photograph a lot of sessions, or you photograph, a handful of sessions each month.
So just hearing about people's businesses and w- just the differences I think is really fascinating Yeah, and I think just people watching each other work in the same space because we are always photographing by ourselves, even if you do just a, co-shoot with someone else, like if you plan a styled shoot with another photographer in your area, just watching another photographer work, maybe there's one tiny thing they do differently than you would do, and you're like, "Oh, I love that."
I used to shoot a lot with my friend Tiffany, and just the way she would, adjust the dresses was different.
And I learned something from that Yeah how to make it just relaxed and not too perfect, yeah.
Yeah.
I always love seeing the images people get during a workshop, like for the styled session component.
And I have these ideas in my mind of how I want to pose and the prompts I wanna give, and then I'll see...
I- it was the night when the workshop ended, we got back to the house, and I saw some of the images Adrienne got of the family.
We were in different groups, and so she was posing them while I was posing a different group.
And so we switched then, and she put the family in a spot that I didn't even think of.
And so just so fun to see what people's creative processes are like and the results that come from that Yeah, I think that can really open up your mind.
And we do come from our own artist eye, which is important, but then it's also important to a step back and see how other people do things sometimes, so Yeah All right.
All right, so let's move on to what can we learn from photographers whose work looks nothing like ours? Yeah.
That is such a good question, and I think we can learn so much.
Just because someone's work doesn't look like ours, there could be so many reasons why it doesn't look like ours, right? It could be the light they use.
It could be the posing they use.
It could be the colors they use, the locations they use the type of photography, if it's a family session versus newborn session.
But there are so many just design components that you can still take and learn from by just looking at someone else's work.
So maybe their style isn't your style, maybe you don't like their editing style.
But Seeing how they positioned a family, laying down on a blanket, that could be inspiring.
Seeing exactly what kind of prompts they use to get natural smiles.
There's so many little details that you can take and make your own to what's the word? Just have be a part of your business and show up in its own way in your business Definitely.
Something that I always love seeing some people's work who's the completely different style is how people pose so that it's completely unposed, yet there's still this geometric design to it.
It's so how people go about being completely natural, not even smiling in the moment.
That's something that I wanna work on more this year, is like being even less, less linear, like less perfect, Yeah posed.
Even though I love my flattering posed moments with beautiful natural connection, there's still work to be done on breaking free of some of that and just having people themselves and not smiling at the camera.
Yeah, my for sure.
Absolutely Also, I think there's something really healthy about being able to say "I'm really good at what I do, but I still don't know everything."
There's still multiple perspectives and different ways to approach things that we can learn.
And teaching, just because Marie and I and lots of other educators, just because we're educators doesn't mean finished learning.
If anything, I feel like it's made me more aware of how nuanced photography is and seeing other beautiful work that inspires me the time, yeah So Amber, I'm curious what it is that you have focused on learning recently.
I know for me, in the past year or maybe past year and a half, I've learned a lot about AI.
I've started using AI a lot more in my business, right? Not only just Claude or ChatGPT, but Imagine and Evoto.
I've also, like what you said, tried to make my sessions a little bit messier, a little bit more relaxed.
I still have a lot of posed shots, but it definitely is in right now to have this very natural nuance to your photos, and so I've been working on that.
And so what I'm trying to say is as photographers, we have to keep learning, because the business and the market are constantly changing, right? I've also That reminded me, I've played around with, how I've responded to inquiries.
I played around with some marketing stuff this year.
And so if we stay stagnant and we're not putting ourselves out there to learn new things, our business isn't going to grow.
It's gonna stay stagnant as well.
And so it is important to continue learning in your craft and continue learning about your business.
So yeah, Amber, I'm curious what it is you focused on in the past year or so.
The past year or so, definitely working on more business, more focusing on selling artwork and having even better connections with clients.
But within the next year, I would say I kinda wanna go back to developing my craft even more.
Like I said, with posing, like what you said, being messier and less linear, I think this is something that w- as an interpreter too, we're always trying to be less linear because our brains in English think like this, then that, then this, and it's very linear sometimes.
And so just being messy, moving the pieces around more, being less focused on smiles and things like that, I definitely want to grow more in that area this year.
I've taken on incorporating Evoto and Imagen into my workflows as well, which really speeds up my editing.
I wouldn't say that's so much me learning though as w- it's more like adapting, adapting to what's currently working best for my business and my workflows.
I think, I was thinking about this earlier and the business stuff has been working for me for s- quite a few years now, since I went full time.
And so this year I made some changes to my process, just some small little things.
But it was, like, really scary to do that because I've had this system and this workflow in place, and I, this is my primary income now.
I'm not a teacher who, this is a backup thing.
And so I remember being so scared to try that out.
But it is also extremely important to stay in touch with what the market is doing and how inquiries are, or how potential clients are responding with our work, and how we respond to those inquiries.
And also these potential clients are getting younger and I'm not.
So True.
Learning how to make sure I can connect in the way that these younger moms want to connect.
So that's really important because if I keep doing what I'm doing, think about people who, didn't have websites.
If they decide, years and years ago, if they decide "Ah, I'm not gonna jump on and get on and make a website.
I get all my business from word of mouth."
That is not sustainable.
You have to constantly be growing.
So I think the business stuff scares me more because it definitely, I feel like it carries such a big weight.
But I love playing around.
I know we've talked about this before, but it, during sessions I love trying something new during a session, whether it's playing with a certain kind of light or a pose.
And so just trying something it definitely ignites that creative spark within me.
So I try to do that at each session in some way Yeah.
And is there anything you're curious about exploring more this year? Am I curious about exploring anything more this year? I just hosted my first, this is on, in the education side of things, but I hosted my first styled session event a couple weeks ago, and I loved it.
I was I had a great time, and it's making me think, oh, I would love to just host a retreat for photographers and be able to just take care of them really well, and have them leave inspired.
Kinda like what I talked about at the beginning of this episode.
I just wanna host and take good care of people and have them leaving, with their hearts full ready to create.
And possibly thinking about stretching myself in that way of planning some kind of retreat.
But yeah, I've been playing around a little bit on the art side of things with these trends of, more direct sun.
I still can't get behind the trend of a really high F-stop 'cause I just, it's just not me.
But that's okay.
It's good to know what is going to align with your brand and what's not.
So I just, I like playing around with some trends without it being all of my work.
I still want my work to be romantic.
I still want my work to be whimsical.
And it, by playing around, I get inspired, I stay relevant, but I feel anchored in who I am and what my business is about Now, how do you figure out these, trends? Because I've never heard of this high f-stop other than for s- that's a cinematography type of A- and obviously if you're shooting weddings and you're trying to get a venue shot, that type of thing.
But for portrait photography, Yeah.
come up with these trends or the Yeah, no I...
Yeah, it's probably my feed, my Instagram feed.
Once you start seeing one, you get targeted with others.
But yeah, I've been seeing this year a lot of work...
Excuse me.
First of all, so many Dutch angles, a little too much for me.
I like playing around with a good Dutch angle, but not for every image.
And then a lot of high f-stop.
So the background doesn't have as much bokeh than, it- we've seen in the portrait world for years.
And for me I know having lots of bokeh and having that really portrait look has been, quote, "in style" for so many years.
Now, to me, I resonate so much more with that look.
So even though there's this trend of more things in focus, I don't mind playing with that maybe for an image or two, but I love that dreamy, a creamy, ethereal feeling.
And so that, I'm gonna keep the core of my work like that.
But anyway, to answer your question, I think it's just I've seen some in my feed and then Okay, been targeted.
I think there's always gonna be, though multiple styles being trendy at all times.
Because we're in the light and airy, ethereal world where, The Motherhood Anthology favors that style too, and a lot of these motherhood blogs and places favor that style, but that doesn't mean those styles haven't been happening for all these years too.
It's just that yeah, like you said, the algorithm isn't showing us.
Yeah.
Just people's opinions of what is, in style and what they love is just, it's just so different, but it's always happening at all times.
Yeah.
Yeah yeah, I don't know.
I'm gonna stick to my wide F-stop too.
But I see your...
I do see the value, though, in experimenting more, That's what's great about going to styled shoots or planning your own styled shoot Ja you don't have that pressure to deliver what you've, what your client is expecting you to deliver.
You can totally experiment and come out of the box, and you don't have to worry about really getting them m- more than even a handful of photos if, the pressure is off when Yeah.
a styled You can mess up.
You can mess up and it's totally fine.
And you know what? I think I remember at this past Kindred Path workshop, I remember saying I just try things all the time in sessions.
I make sure I get, like, all the safe shots and all the must-haves and all the combos, but I think we need to give our permission or give ourselves permission to just try things.
And sometimes the first time I try something quirky or artsy, I'm like, "Ugh, that was not good.
It did not work out."
But I learned something from it.
I might try it again and tweak something, and then the next time I try it, it's gonna be better.
And then maybe the next time I try after that, it's gonna be even better.
So there's so much room to grow.
And so I think it is important for us to not be so hard on ourselves if the first time we try something different and it doesn't quite vibe or work out, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't ever.
We gotta take the information we got from that experience and tweak it for the next time Yeah and that, that brings me to the next thing that I was thinking about in regards to this topic is yes, we wanna grow, yes, we wanna experiment, but also something we can learn from and do better at is being less judgmental of ourselves Our work.
Even though we wanna grow, we don't need to be, so critical of ourselves, I think that as artists we tend to do that.
And you could have let that first try at doing something artsy stop you from ever doing it again at a- in another session, but you didn't.
You kept trying and tweaking it and that's where real growth happens.
And I'm even trying to be less judgmental, because I just have a very style that I really love, and that's great about my work is that it's super consistent, but then it's also a, a double-edged sword sometimes when I have a really amazing session that was in super cloudy, dark light, and I question "Is it good enough to post?" Even though I know it was a really great session and my clients absolutely loved it, but I'm, having to release some judgment of my own work and be more flexible.
And so yeah, sometimes I love the images that are either in super harsh light or in cloudy light, but I just don't love them as much as my preferred style, which is no clouds in the air, diffused light or side light.
But it's not...
it's very specific, the light that I look for and I love, and I wanna keep that, Ja also still myself to post something that's it's not so perfect, and that's okay.
Yeah, I know.
I...
beauty in it.
Yeah, absolutely.
I loved hearing all about the Kindred Path retreat.
It sounded amazing, and I'd love to come to one maybe next year if you guys do it again.
Those always look really amazing, and anything where we can learn and grow in a really positive and non- non-judgmental, loving environment is always good for our souls and our businesses Definitely.
And I think it's important to know as photographers that there is always room to grow, and there is no shame with having to continue learning, right? That is what is going to make you a good photographer, a good artist, a good businesswoman, and a good person.
We al- are always growing and getting better.
So keep that process going and be proud of it.
Be proud of wanting to get better Definitely.
Keep learning and keep growing All right.
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.
Thank you so much for spending time with us today on the Luxe and Legacy Podcast.
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