Everything is BS
Crafting Authenticity: An Insight into a Successful Photography Session Pt. 1
Are you ready to ride shotgun on our wild and whacky adventure this week? As with any good rollercoaster, we start with the steep climb of Chris's seemingly insurmountable schedule, from preparing for a photography workshop and wrapping up weddings to gearing up for a launch party for Lens & Light 2024 Summit speakers.
Ever had a brush with the wild that left you scarred, quite literally? Well, buckle up as Brooke shares her unexpected tryst with a rare form of poison ivy that turned her world upside down. But it's not all doom and gloom, as we take a scenic detour through her recent trip to Sayulita and her decision to cut down on weddings to spend more quality time with Brookes better half.
And for the main conversation we delve into the fascinating world of in-home photography sessions, covering everything from choosing the right photographer to making the most of your home's natural setting. We'll also unwrap the importance of getting to know the personalities of people before photographing them in their homes. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride! We promise you an episode chock-full of stories, advice, and laughs you won't want to miss.
Are you ready to ride shotgun on our wild and whacky adventure this week? As with any good rollercoaster, we start with the steep climb of Chris's seemingly insurmountable schedule, from preparing for a photography workshop and wrapping up weddings to gearing up for a launch party for Lens & Light 2024 Summit speakers.
Ever had a brush with the wild that left you scarred, quite literally? Well, buckle up as Brooke shares her unexpected tryst with a rare form of poison ivy that turned her world upside down. But it's not all doom and gloom, as we take a scenic detour through her recent trip to Sayulita and her decision to cut down on weddings to spend more quality time with Brookes better half.
And for the main conversation we delve into the fascinating world of in-home photography sessions, covering everything from choosing the right photographer to making the most of your home's natural setting. We'll also unwrap the importance of getting to know the personalities of people before photographing them in their homes. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride! We promise you an episode chock-full of stories, advice, and laughs you won't want to miss.
aggressive. Yeah, they count on a scary Yo. what's up Hey?
Speaker 2:we are here Fantastic.
Speaker 1:So today we're going to have to run through this one a little bit quick, because Chris has a lot going on this week. Not that I don't, but Chris, his whole schedule is nuts Do you want to tell them a little bit about what's going on this week before we start.
Speaker 2:Sure. So I am currently here in the studio and actually I'm going to get a little bit of an interview with the director. Give a little wave. My studio Me Jamie's right back there. I don't know if she wants to be seen.
Speaker 1:I don't think so She can't hear you.
Speaker 2:She can't hear me, that's OK, so she's back there. We're in the studio right now. Beautiful, like it's just so. It's so much better. Last week I was struggling with where to do this in my home and it was like just shifting from a spot to spot, and even in the end I looked back at it That this is this, however, beautiful light. When we talk about photography, it means everything, and this is this is much better.
Speaker 2:So it's just very easy Why I'm so busy, why I'm here in the studio. We are doing our photography workshop this week. We've got our awesome nine instructors Jamie, one of them, in the background right now going to be talking about headshots, everything about that Got a bunch of topics, had a wedding yesterday. All focuses, this workshop, and then on Thursday I will collapse, completely collapse. I'm not even sure what I'm going to do yet, but I absolutely have to take. Oh, we just got a little meow. That was cute. Oh my God, sorry, perfect, no, no, no, that's adorable. I like the the additional input from the cat here. So that's that. That was Gremlin, correct.
Speaker 1:No, that was cricket, Oh cricket.
Speaker 2:I know that name too. So yeah, we are. I am busy, i'm very busy, but I'm on the sort of the tail end of busy. The past three weeks I've had a bunch of weddings, i've got a ton of editing to do And it has just been a nonstop game for this prep for our workshop. And then next week that's as soon as I get my one day break we push for we're doing a launch party in Southington Well, actually it's considered a middle day, but it's at a kinsman brewery And we'll be talking about and releasing some of our speakers for 2024.
Speaker 1:Some of the mystic Mariah.
Speaker 2:So that's.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:Next thing, But the main focus today is all prep for Lens and Light and the workshop over the next two days. So Tuesday and Wednesday, two full days. So it's going to be really exciting, Yeah, really really pumped.
Speaker 1:So that's awesome, good stuff. So that's Tuesday and Wednesday, and then on Thursday you're going to just pass out Thursday, I will cease to exist.
Speaker 2:So actually, if you want to talk about cease to exist, Wednesday evening, Wednesday night, whenever I get home and drop my bag just collapse full on the floor, even last night actually. Kelly took a photo of me last night because I finished the wedding yesterday, got home and was she, was she was doing some some prepping, some meal prepping, And I was just I just laid down on the couch and I was out in like seconds And so I have, you know, beautiful picture of me that she took as one as a married spouse would do, as for each other Is there you go sleeping in mouth open.
Speaker 2:Got to. Got to grab that.
Speaker 1:Of course you do, of course. So is this your busiest season ever?
Speaker 2:It's the weird. The word season is interesting at this point because it's if I was only doing weddings I would feel that word would be more applicable, but this is the most. this is the most busy in the photography industry entrepreneurship, whatever you want to call it that I have ever been in my life, for sure.
Speaker 2:And there's no one to blame but myself. I've put, i've taken on a lot of jobs and, but I wanted to. So this is so you know. You get that advice from people that you know you're young. While you're young, i hear from you know, grandparents and such like do it now get bored. So I'm wondering now if I did. I take on too much.
Speaker 1:Did you write off more than you can chew?
Speaker 2:It's potentially, as we're sitting here, you know, podcast also included in that. I'm very excited for this, so, but it's good, because we will push the limits and find out where my limits are, what I can do and always learning experience. Do a lot of failures before you have a lot of successes. Yeah, but it's exciting.
Speaker 1:So I'm excited to see how it goes.
Speaker 2:What about you? I think you've got a story to share. I think that's what we just talked about, I mean it's not like a story, it's just so.
Speaker 1:I've shared with a lot of my followers and I've asked for all of the ideas and suggestions on how to get rid of our poison ivy. So what we have in our yard is called well, i don't think it's. I don't think the plant itself is called this, but what my skin does when the plant touches my skin is called black spot, poison ivy, and what it basically is. Yeah, it's crazy. So last year, maybe two years ago No, i think it was two years ago, because then last year I was like I'm not touching it. Two years ago I we were playing with sparklers outside with my niece and nephew And when they left I noticed that I had this like black dot on my on my skin And I was like, oh my God, like did I get burnt, you know? So I'm looking at it and I'm like what the heck? Like it literally burnt a piece of my skin And even to this day I still have a scar.
Speaker 1:But the next day, the black spot that I mean. So basically, when it grazes your skin, the toxicity of the chemicals that are poison ivy burns your skin, it literally burns it, and then the next day, that black spot is raised and surrounded by a bunch of little regular poison ivy spots. So you kind of just have to like go through the process And if somebody is really allergic which I am, but I guess I touched it just ever so slightly you can go to the hospital to get like steroids for it and stuff like that. I didn't, because I just don't see doctors ever. So you wait for that piece of skin to fall off and then you just have the most awful poison ivy ever. But what I was trying, what I was gonna, yeah, yeah it's terrible. So I basically I didn't know, this existed?
Speaker 1:I didn't either, until I looked it up and it said that it's a very rare condition, that only certain amount of poison ivy plants that have that specific toxicity will do like. It'll create that effect on certain people who have the right skin whatever that will make it turn black. So it doesn't. So if you walked in my yard and you touched the poison ivy, there's a pretty good chance that your skin would not turn black and you wouldn't get that specific type of poison ivy, but you would get a pretty angry poison ivy. The one that I get is like. I literally looked it up and it was like a very rare condition And I'm like okay, cool, Yeah, you're like sweet, yeah.
Speaker 2:Whenever you get it Like awesome, Yeah, cool Yeah. No, of course it's me.
Speaker 1:The chances were low for me and I have this great Right so I've asked a bunch of people like how do I get rid of this? What do I do? Everybody's like get goats, like hire goats, to come and eat it, cause I guess the goats really like the root of poison ivy.
Speaker 2:That's also specific Right, but I also, i know.
Speaker 1:but I also live in an area where, like I don't think a farmer is just gonna, like you know, case off my yard and drop them off and be like bye, cause there are things in my area that would definitely harm goats. So I haven't been able to find a company that would do the goats I don't really want to pay for. I mean, listen, i'll pay for some goats to eat, cause like that's cute, you know, like I would love to have the goats in my yard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100% pay for that. You really need to come over and see the goats. that is so funny.
Speaker 1:Right, yes I also now envision.
Speaker 2:The big question is is Nellie gonna be a goat herder? Can we have Nellie do that?
Speaker 1:Dude. Okay, so at the last HOA meeting, chad, he's the vice. He's, is he the vice president? I think he's the vice president. I don't even remember because I was like I'm not doing it, but if you want to do it, that's fine. He was asking them. He was like Brooke wants to get chickens and goats And they were like, oh my God, we would love for her to have them.
Speaker 2:And he's like don't tell her that I didn't want you wanting chickens too.
Speaker 1:Oh man, i would love it. The thing is, though, is that they attract rats because of the food and stuff. So it's like but anyway, so I would pay for goats. I wouldn't pay. I mean, i don't know, I don't want to say I wouldn't pay for somebody to come and pull it out, but I don't want somebody like spraying pesticides around the yard. No Long story short it's going buck wild in my yard.
Speaker 2:Oh no.
Speaker 1:Like it is like growing everywhere. I'm afraid to do any gardening, anything like that. So Chad and I went to Sayulita on Saturday, cause I'm trying to take less weddings so that I can have more time with my husband and, like, do the thing. So we went to Sayulita on Saturday, the restaurant.
Speaker 2:Have you been? Yes, so we went from preventative measures to get rid of this rare plant that's going to kill you And you're like, i'm going to get Mexican food now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, so we go and we, we have lunch on Saturday and I am too margaritas in when I decide you know what I'm going to do it I'm going to put on. That sounds about right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the answer Just get the two margaritas.
Speaker 1:That was it, i thought that's where you were.
Speaker 2:I don't know how to make a decision with this, so two margaritas it is.
Speaker 1:Two margaritas.
Speaker 2:What were the margaritas? That's what we need tonight. They're just the classic, are they? You get the seasonal ones.
Speaker 1:No one. I love a spicy marg. One was called a hot and Jalisco, jalisco, jalisco, something. It was delicious, and then the other one. No, i had the same thing, but Chad had a different one, but anyway. So on our way home I was like you know what, chad? I'm really feeling this. I'm tired of not being able to walk around our yard and feel like I'm going to have black spots all over me. So I had him get me some really long kitchen gloves and I put on some clothes that I will never, ever touch again And I threw away immediately after I was done And I got in the poison ivy patch and I pulled it from the root And I pulled just about as much of it as I could until I thought I was going to pass out because of the heat.
Speaker 2:But I'm really feeling gross.
Speaker 1:I have only one, one tiny little spot.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:There one spot I'm like. I woke up this morning and I was like, oh my God. And then I started thinking about it and I'm like you know what, you know what For a rash decision on a random Saturday, with nothing but really long kitchen gloves, i'll take it, i'll take it, and it's not a black spot, it's just a regular spot. So I don't know if it just like lightly grazed, i'm not really sure, but it's just right on my neck and I'm fine. But I'm not like, you know, i'm not like.
Speaker 2:Errr, but I have You managed to escape. So you're basically the commercial when they say like kills 99.99% of germs. So you were like the 99.99%, you recovered.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I was like okay, like because for the rest of the night when I came in you know my anxiety, so like I probably don't even know how to explain this to you, but when I came, in that night.
Speaker 2:You were brave to go out there with that, knowing that you know the repercussions of if you slipped up for.
Speaker 1:Well, i, literally, as I was laying in bed and I was fine, i wasn't, but my brain goes you're itchy, you're itchy everywhere. And I was just like thinking like oh my god, it's coming, yep.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be covering it in black. And, side note, one of the biggest reasons why I knew Brooke would be amazing for this podcast is because when she tells stories, she tells them with these voice inflections that just go into the crazy voices that, oh, it's hilarious, it's so funny.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, I don't even know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're just like, just like making a sound effect, so we don't even need the board. We don't need a sound effect board.
Speaker 1:Wow, i didn't even know that I did that, but I'm glad that you're enjoying it.
Speaker 2:It's hilarious. Yeah, that's yeah. Kelly agreed to listen to some of your stories, just from like some of the voice messages when I've showed her. When Brooke and I are chatting back and forth, sometimes we use the, which we can talk about that Instagram Shit. get rid of the one minute cue on your voice. Oh yeah, That's so much. And I sit there and you're busy and you're talking and it just stops a woman and you're like shit.
Speaker 2:So I'm sure they heard And then I got to read back listen. but anyway I'm glad you guys love my voices.
Speaker 1:I'm noticing on this now that we're like actually recording. When I watch it back I'm like I noticed now that my face does a lot of things that are totally involuntary, Like totally involuntary.
Speaker 2:The Toe story last week. Your facial reactions was you didn't even have to hear the story. It was. That was hilarious. I've had multiple comments say like Brooke's face was was so funny watching this story.
Speaker 1:So but I didn't even know that I do that. So you saying that about like the stories and stuff when I go through and I listen to this, to okay it to post. I'm going to be focusing now on the inflection of my voice.
Speaker 2:No, it's, but that's wonderful. Yeah, that's Oh hilarious.
Speaker 1:But yeah, we're probably a third of the poison Ivy down. We have another pair of gloves, i have some more extra clothes that I'm going to throw away once the spot stops. And me, but yeah, i'm, i braved it and I'm very proud of myself for only walking away with one teensy, weensy little spot. Thank you, thank you, i am. I am truly the goat As someone who appreciates, get that joke.
Speaker 1:Okay so today's podcast, we were talking about how to properly prepare for sessions. This is a podcast that you and I have talked about, kind of like attacking this or not attacking. Tackling this subject, because I feel like a lot of people have a lot of anxiety when it comes to planning how to plan the perfect session that doesn't feel cheesy and it's not sit there and posey. So we have some tips today that I wanted to, that we wanted to talk about. As far as prepping for your session and it's an engagement session, newborn session, in home session This one is not about the weddings, so this is just every other session besides your wedding, because on your wedding you're mostly candid anyway. You're kind of like doing, you know, you're walking through the day doing what you do And hopefully we're capturing it as it is. Hence the realism. But for today, we're talking about sessions that are everything but the wedding.
Speaker 2:Everything but the wedding. No, i've, i've the pause there. I'm not serious listening to my voice. I'm going to listen back and see if I hear I'm trying to, which is great for video. I'm going to be taking my sip of coffee here and I'm like you know, trying to swallow it on the side here, but they're being occasionally going to miss.
Speaker 1:Goal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, attractive, so let's go into that. So, nick's the wedding for the moment Let's talk about. so, brooke, we've talked about this. You, you know you're really big into you start with in-home sessions. I think that's a good place to start. In-home sessions, you've got a special spot in your heart for the in-home sessions with the families. And they look beautiful. They look great.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think that's one of your style of I. Rarely you do a lot of natural light. You do more than I think most people think they can do, and then in in.
Speaker 1:In. In home session.
Speaker 2:So so that's in session, but I've seen the photos and I I've seen yours and I think back to myself and I've I've had to do some recently and I do think of your account, so you are coming top of mind and I'm like what do I need to do to kind of not replicated per se but get that though? It's all about light, it's all about light.
Speaker 1:So yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely So tell us, tell us a little prep about that. What are your thoughts?
Speaker 1:on that. Okay, well, first things first, something that you just said kind of like, stood out to me as far as like you're, like you do a lot more with natural light than you know that you even thought was possible. Is that what you just said?
Speaker 2:That's what I said, okay. I know we need to be like run it back, run it back record.
Speaker 1:No, cricket's just destroying the couch. So it's fantastic, it's fine. So so first things first. Before we even get into the in home session, i think like where we should start with this is basically before you even reach out to your photographer, like your prep starts before you even reach out to us. Your prep starts when you are trying to figure out who is the photographer for me and what do I want them to capture for me.
Speaker 1:You know, with that comes a few different things. So one reading your photographers about me is really really, really important. It's really important to understand where your photographer kind of stands in their life, but also with what they're trying to capture. So I know for my about me, i literally right in there, like I'm not about the picture, perfect posey shot. Like I'm not going to have clients who or I have had clients. I'm discouraging the clients who want to yell at their children, to sit down and smile at the camera. I'm discouraging those types of sessions.
Speaker 1:It doesn't mean that we won't get a photo where all of you might be looking at the camera and smiling. That's not what it means. What it means is that I don't want for your session to turn into okay. Now we're really aggravated and everybody's sitting and you're kind of like smiling through your teeth, like okay, but when we leave it's probably going to be a fight. When you leave my session, i don't want you to be fighting with your spouse and I don't want you to be fighting with your children. I don't want you to be focusing on how poorly they behaved because they don't know how to behave in front of a camera, in front of a stranger. Like that is a hard thing to do for a little person, you know, for a little human that doesn't really understand, like what is this big black thing that they're holding in front of their face to capture our memories? Like no, it's. In my case I have like a little lens buddy, like a little toy on the front so that I can like squeak it at them and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:All that to say is like in my about me, when I say you know I'm not going to try specifically hard to capture the picture perfect photo What I mean is that we're not going to have an angsty session to be able to capture that one Christmas card. I want for your photos to be about capturing memories and it says that right in my about me, if you have low lighting in your home, your session likely will be a little bit darker and a little bit moodier than somebody who's setting up light like Chris. So, number one, read the about me I love natural light. I'm gonna focus on that. It's not that I can't set up the extra lights or anything like that, it's that I'm focusing on what your home looks like in its natural form Also.
Speaker 1:Well, so for the next one is ask your photographer for a gallery or two Like that's. The next step is like ask your photographer Can I see a full gallery of what you've delivered in homes with, you know, good lighting, poor lighting. In homes with nurseries no nurseries, if you're talking about maybe like a newborn session or something like that. If you don't have a nursery setup look at what the you know you can ask me what are some sessions that you've had where you've done a newborn session and we don't necessarily have a nursery fully set up and we don't anticipate we're going to be having that set up by the time you get here.
Speaker 1:I feel like I'm rambling, but it's kind of like it's these steps where it's like Yeah, so you want to learn about your photographer, but then also you want to learn exactly what they have delivered in certain situations that you might already anticipate, like I just had a client say like please don't expect your you know, don't expect to walk into like the picture perfect pottery barn cat, like, oh my gosh, magazine pottery barn Sure, no catalog is what I was thinking.
Speaker 2:The catalog.
Speaker 1:You're not walking into a pottery barn catalog, And it was funny because it actually kind of got me thinking OK, well, how can I be creative in the smaller spaces in their home? How can I, you know, kind of set something up minimally where we take a few things away and it still feels very clean, very fresh, decluttered things like that? Do you have anything to add on that?
Speaker 2:I just feel like I'm rambling, totally taking over as you're talking, i'm like formulating thoughts and what's sticking out to me. So there's two, two thoughts, and one is for the photographer and one is for the individual or people looking for said photographer. So for the photographer, good idea If you haven't done this. If you're, it doesn't matter if you're doing weddings or whatnot, but if you're, if you're still in especially like beginning to mid level stages of growing your business and you're kind of taking on a variety of different types of work, which would be engagement session, weddings in home, seniors It's a good idea to, as Brooke pointed out she's having her the advice for the individuals to ask the photographer for some sample galleries of what they're looking for.
Speaker 2:So it would be a good idea for the photographer to have some sample galleries that are pre made, ready to go, that maybe you could just update a little bit here and there, but generally speaking, one that's in home, one that's maybe at a beach, one that's in a dark place, whatever the, wherever your client is, have that gallery ready to go to save some time. I'm always thinking about saving time. You know how do I make this efficient. And then, secondly, for the individual and you were talking, brooke, about take a look at the about keep hitting my mic and literally I'm going to be the amount of times in this video. I'm going to make a clip of every video, of every time I pulled this mic. It's like so, if you are the individual, the importance of looking at that, that about me page or the any anything that you can scour that showcases the personality that you're hiring, versus solely the photos even if you only really care about the photos and you're like I don't really need to know about the person, i would disagree.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you kind of do. But yeah, you, because if you're an individual or your family, that's someone who you know you don't maybe you like are very quiet and you know you've got a very introverted space and you hire somebody whose photos are, you know, stunning And then they come over just like bash open the door and they just got a really loud personality which works for some people, works really well In fact, but not everybody. You wouldn't want that And it may completely destroy the vibe. So the experience with the actual photographer and what to expect from them is just as important as the photos.
Speaker 2:So right making sure to do your research is good, and sometimes there's a lot of photographers that don't know what they want to put on their website. So you'll find that it feels very. It feels feels very similar as you go through pages. And if that's the case, but you really like that person or whatnot, continue to do a little bit more research. You can scour their, their social media. You can scour there. You know there's a lot of outlets nowadays to truly sounds creepy. Find out about a person or at least the vibe that they're giving Right, and it should be pretty easy to find.
Speaker 2:So well, also my thoughts and I the last thing I was thinking as you were talking and I had these thoughts I'm thinking of. I'm going to show my age. There was a. There was a show a long time ago on MTV or VH. One thing was MTV And it was like it was like music videos that would play And during while they played, little bubbles would pop up of information. That was, like you know, at this scene. This like thing happened.
Speaker 1:This blooper is behind the music, or something.
Speaker 2:I think behind the music was a VH one show where they like interviewed the Okay. The this cannot remember the name of it for me.
Speaker 1:I remember it. I just don't remember the name of it. I remember what you're talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i've. So we need that for us right now, like as we're talking, like my thoughts need to have on hand the page. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, if you do the YouTube thing, you could totally we could like type in little snippets, but the other thing that I was going to say, though, is, you know, you said you could scour their social media, stuff like that. My next point on what to do before you even reach out is ask for their package prices and read reviews. So if you are viewing their package prices and you're like, whoa, that's not, as you know, that's more than I was hoping to spend for this specific session, or something like that, But then you look at the reviews and you see how helpful the photographer was. You see, you know all of these raving reviews from people who have paid that same exact price to be able to take advantage of these services, then maybe it won't feel so strange for you to go. Oh well, you know all the route. All of the reviews say that this person is great, so they must be doing you know some something amazing with this. Like, let's give it a go.
Speaker 1:Similarly, though, if you are not comfortable with spending the money, just don't. If you're not comfortable with spending that money, it's okay to say that somebody is out of your price point. It's okay, because the other thing that you don't want to do is you don't want to almost like, let your guard down and go. Well, everybody else says that it's, you know it's worth it. And then what you were looking for in that specific session may or may not be captured in the way that you were hoping. So you know as much as reading reviews and looking at the package prices, you need to kind of weigh it out for yourself. What is this worth to me? What am I willing to spend? And then, if the reviews are that teetering point where it's just pushing you over the edge just a little bit like you know what, yeah, okay, it's a little bit more than we wanted to spend, but it sounds like the sessions are great, then take the jump, take the leap. I mean, worst case scenario you have moments of your family that are, in my case, anyway, the.
Speaker 1:What I try to capture are memories. So that's what I would say about that. And then, after you are reaching out, or while you're reaching out, give as much detail as humanly possible about you, your spouse, your family, whoever's gonna be captured in this session, talk about them, and talk about them in the light that you're hoping that they'll be captured. You know, i know that it's very, very, very tempting to go to a contact page and just go yep, this is my budget, yep, this is where I live, this is where this is gonna be. Tell me what your pricing is. It's very, very it's enticing to do that, especially if you're reaching out to multiple photographers for the same event to be captured or the same family session to be captured. But you really wanna at least be telling your photographer what it is that you're hoping to be captured in, the light that you're hoping to have it captured in, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that makes perfect sense. That's incredibly important knowledge.
Speaker 1:Cause I might get the same inquiry as you. But I might say you know what my services I don't think that they're going to speak to what you're hoping to capture at this point in time You know you could reach out to my friend, my colleague, who, like you said before, a lot of my moments are about the quiet moments that are captured. You might want a photographer that's a little bit louder, you might want a photographer that's a little bit more colorful than me. You know, and being upfront and honest about what you're hoping to capture and who your family is will help you do that infinitely and it'll help your photographer understand if they're right for you or not.
Speaker 2:Deep thoughts, deep thoughts on this. That's right. We need like a like, some sort of a wrap up on this, not wrap up on the topic, but like a like a end vote or something on this. Is this good or is this not good? Like, what's your thoughts on this? So I'm trying to figure out how to put into words and I can't like. that was such a nice good deep thought. We need to encapsulate that somehow in like. I can't think of a, i don't know. Like a poll, maybe like a poll, i don't know. I need more coffee. This is my busy brain's running, running, life Running life.
Speaker 1:My brain is like running and I think I'm doing like a run on because I'm not. I'm not here right now. Does that make sense? I'm like, i'm like because I keep this going like I'm like and then and then. What do you think? Does that make sense to you?
Speaker 2:Oh, and then, unfortunately me, i'm up here going like, oh yeah, yeah, that makes sense, perfect. So together we're doing really great.
Speaker 1:Well, we're coming off of a long weekend.
Speaker 2:So We are. I'm sure a lot of people are, And I'm sure a lot of, because this is July. This is a very busy month for individuals for like vacations, Just general summer plans. If you've got kids, I know that, just you know you're constantly thinking about activities. And if they're not going to like camp or something because they're maybe too young and then or or they're just not going, there's it's there's a lock, So Yeah, Everybody's a little busy, which is so funny because in the winter we're like, yeah, summer we're ready, like it's going to be, it's going to be awesome break.
Speaker 2:We talked about this. We are so trained with a K through 12 mentality for the beginning part of our life that when summer comes here we're like, you know, no work, just like all fun, can't wait. And then summer comes when you're an adult and you're somehow even busier than ever And you're like when do I get a break? Do I get to enjoy this?
Speaker 1:Like I X'd out of light room to be able to come into this Like so it's just like work, work, work, work, work.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's what we do.
Speaker 1:So you asked me about in-home sessions. Is there anything that you tell your clients specifically before I go into I just I don't want this to be all me talking. I feel like I'm just running on.
Speaker 2:So do you have anything that you?
Speaker 1:specifically tell your clients about in-home sessions, and then I'll get into a little bit of what I do. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know it's interesting because in-home sessions is not my, you know it's not my primary business. I like to say it's not or it's what I'm what I'm doing majority of the time. So I always feel I usually do in-home sessions for any of my wedding couples or people that you know are specifically inquiring, asking. you know I'll be up in front and say this is not my, it's not my main business, but I can do it And I would. if you really want me to do it, i will absolutely do it. So it's fun because then when I get to do it I'm like oh, i love doing this because it's a it's just, you know, it challenges me in new ways. So it's like a totally different mindset.
Speaker 2:So one of the pieces of advice that I give, which always kind of shifts as I continue to do these just because I don't do them as much, is that breakfast. it's always always about the before, communication and setting up the expectations, and I'm always learning that. I'm always reminding myself of that, and One of the big things is making sure to ask the right questions. So some of those questions would be like do you have a? what's your space look like? Is there a window? Is there a big enough window? Is the space clean? Can you clean it? And I totally understand if you can't, because you've got a newborn and it's crazy.
Speaker 1:Do you outwardly just say is your home clean? Like do you say that I don't say is it clean?
Speaker 2:I say I preface it with the photos are gonna look great if the space is just tidied up. And I specifically say if you are in chaos, we all we need to do is just move all the stuff. But it helps me know ahead of time, like, if I get there, do I need to set aside time for tidying up?
Speaker 1:Do I need to do that?
Speaker 2:So I'm not jumping into it and going like, oh, this room is a mess, like I'm okay with it looking. I don't wanna say messy, but like a little bit more natural. It doesn't have to be everything straight perfect Lived in is a great way to describe this, yeah, lived in. But if there's water, like I always think of, cause the wedding. I think of the hotel room and the most annoying The water bottles, the water bottles.
Speaker 2:They look, there's nothing that they look terrible. They look terrible. I hate that And they're just cause they're crinkled a little bit And it's just like it literally looks like trash. It's like there's nothing I can do about that Other than that.
Speaker 1:Well, that's cause, that's what it is.
Speaker 2:It's trash, It's trash. So you know, blankets, toys for kids, like that looks lived in. But if it's like, if it's like a million Legos everywhere, like tiny weird pieces, like I just I'm just gauging What am I expecting when I walk in, Because that will help me understand what I need to do and how much time I need and things like that.
Speaker 2:So I'm, i'm. I said I always preface it with if you, you don't need to, you know, go crazy, dust everything you don't need to. that's not what I'm asking, literally asking for. Is it possible that the room is their space? Can?
Speaker 2:we just move stuff out of the way if we need to. So that's always a good question, and and then I just go into, and the best way to get the most amount of information from people is to get them to talk about themselves, which sounds like an obvious thing, but sometimes it's hard to do. So I kind of just ask questions like literally, things like you know what's the home life like right now? Is there you know? are you guys? is it? is it a quiet vibe? Are you guys? as a rambunctious? Do you have a? you know the two year old is going to be running around What? what time of day is?
Speaker 1:the most exciting. I like some of these questions. I like seeing these questions that you're asking.
Speaker 2:I'm going to so And it entices. all I'm looking for is people to talk about themselves, because it gives me I get to hear a how they talk which tells me their personality a little bit. I'll have them tell me about themselves. What do you guys like? What do you like to do?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What do you, what do you like to do right now? And again, I'm always thinking of in-home session, I'm thinking of young children are usually in the mixture And that's a new word in the picture and I mixture So Mixture is a word. It is, but I was like mixed picture.
Speaker 1:I said I don't know what I said In the picture In the picture. All right, guys. That's part one of today's episode. Just a quick reminder that we record these episodes and divide them into two parts to drop every Tuesday. If you want to continue this conversation with us, we'll see you in part two.