Freedom Focus Photography

Color, Composition, and Income Diversification with Rebecca Hunnicutt

• Nicole Begley, Rebecca Hunnicutt • Episode 259

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259 - In this episode of the Freedom Focused Photography podcast, I sit down with the incredibly talented Rebecca Hunicutt from Rebecca Hunnicutt Photography to explore a topic that’s essential for every photographer—diversifying your income. 

Rebecca shares her unique journey from a pediatric nurse practitioner to a full-time photographer and educator, offering invaluable insights on how to create a sustainable and profitable photography business.

Rebecca’s story is a testament to the power of passion and creativity, as she discusses how she built multiple income streams through school photography, family sessions, and teaching. We also dive deep into the art of color and composition, and how mastering these elements can set your work apart.

Whether you’re looking to add new revenue streams, refine your photography style, or simply get inspired, this episode is packed with practical tips and thought-provoking discussions that you won’t want to miss.

Here’s a sneak peek at what we’re covering:

Diversifying Income Streams: Rebecca emphasizes the importance of diversifying your photography income by exploring different avenues like school photography, education, and family sessions, which helps create a stable and balanced revenue throughout the year.

Finding Your Style: Rebecca shared her journey of discovering her photography style, highlighting the value of consistent practice and reflection to hone in on what truly resonates with you as an artist.

Leveraging Seasonal Work: Rebecca discusses how she balances different photography niches throughout the year, such as focusing on school portraits in the fall and summer camps during the off-season, to maintain a consistent income.

Starting Small and Scaling: Rebecca’s story illustrates how you can start with small projects, like photographing other expats or setting up a driveway pop-up for school photos, and gradually scale them into larger, more consistent revenue streams.

Creativity Beyond the Camera: The conversation covers how creativity isn't just about taking pictures but also extends to how you design your business, from developing educational content to setting up new services.

Overcoming Creative Blocks: Rebecca shares strategies for overcoming creative blocks, emphasizing experimentation and playing with different elements like color, location, and composition to reignite inspiration.

Balancing Work and Family: The episode touches on the benefits of structuring your photography business around your personal life, such as working while the kids are at school and taking time off during summer, illustrating how photography can offer a flexible career path.

Resources From This Episode:

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All right, in this episode, we're diving into a little bit of everything, from diversifying income streams, defining your style, to talking about some color and composition, seasonal work, SEO, curating your portfolio. It's just really a really good conversation that you're definitely going to want to listen to, so stay tuned and enjoy. I'm Nicole Bagley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six figure business by 2012.

Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving two to $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six figure businesses, that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales. And no matter if you want photography to be your full time passion or a part time pursuit, profitability is possible.

If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads. Welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Freedom Focus Photography podcast. I'm your host, Nicole Bagleye, and today we have a special guest, Rebecca Hunnicutt from Rebecca Honeycutt photography. Rebecca, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today.

Welcome. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, my gosh. So excited to have you here. And we're going to be talking about something that so many photographers would love to dive in on, and that is being able to diversify your income. But before we jump into that, I would love to know a little bit more about you if you could give everybody kind of a little bit of your background and your photography journey and all that good stuff.

Yeah. So I am one of those people who did start photography, you know, as a child with the film camera, studied it in high school as well, doing black and white photography, and then in college studied nursing and became pediatric nurse practitioner. The responsible thing. Yeah. Yes, exactly. And I think it's interesting, I think that transition actually was because in black and white, I wasn't as creative, I guess, or I wasn't really able to get the pictures I wanted to make.

And I think I didn't realize that until later. Right. Starting with digital photography and everything in color and seeing how my work changed. That's interesting. Yeah. And so anyway, so I became a pediatric nurse practitioner, and then later we moved overseas to Asia, and I wasn't working and was really able to study photography, you know, in a different way than I had been able to before. Had two young kids and really wanted to document our life overseas and their growing up and what that looked like for them.

And so within that space, you know, did some 365s. My photography business was born, and it kind of went from there. So that's definitely the back story. And then we moved to the US about six years ago to Portland, Oregon, and then I was able to really jump more into my business here in the states. That's awesome. I feel like I had a very similar trajectory minus the move to Asia.

But I was actually pulling together because I started my business, family photography, in 2010, and then by 2015, I went all into pets. But I was pulling together a presentation for the development of my style, of how I started to hone that style. And I realized as I started pulling back old images that it was really photographing my own kids. That is where I had, like, those 10,000 hours of repetition to really start playing with the light and the composition and the color and all of those things.

And I find it really fascinating that you say, too, that you didn't love your work in black and white until you started doing it in color. And I am 100% with you. There are some beautiful black and white photographs, but my work in black and white, I absolutely hate it. That's funny. I think I have images in black and white that I like. Yeah. So I can't quite go that far.

But to figure out my style, it just wasn't working for me in black and white as the medium. Right. So once I had color involved, I was like, oh, I love this. Now and then, you know, you'll have certain images. Right. That you can create and that look in black and white, or the lighting is such. Right. That it works for that. But I didn't really figure out what I loved until I was doing it in color.

Okay. Yeah, I love it. How long of a process was that for you to kind of start to hone in your style? You know, it's a good question. I did, trying to think what years they were. I think 2015 and 2016. I did 365. So two years. And I was looking back at that recently, and my style was there actually from the beginning, but I think it took me a while to recognize it.

So I still photograph very similarly. But I think you have to spend the time and then have the ability to reflect back and realize what you love the most. And for me, I mean, I love doing family sessions and going out with clients, but being able to travel with my kids and photograph them traveling is actually really where my creativity comes from and my motivation comes from. So it's different now because they're eleven and 13, so it's not the same as putting a toddler in front of an easel, right.

And spending 2 hours while they finger paint. Photographing them on their iPhone is not as interesting. But if we can go on a holiday, right, and tour a castle, for example, there's just a lot of opportunities that come up for interesting light and framing and all the things that are inspirational in photography without it being a chore for them. I love it. I love it. This is a good lesson for all of you guys out there, that to find places and ways to kind of incorporate that.

Like, I think a lot of people feel like they have to have more clients in front of their camera to hone their style, but so much of it can be done with your kids, with your own dog, with your own horse, with, you know, whatever you have available, and then you can really start to see the, those details. And I had the same experience where I think it was about seven years.

Like, I started in 2010 and it was about 2017 when I finally defined or realized what I had in my style. Now, I had images from like 2013 on that were really like that. But some of the best advice I ever got was a, from a friend of mine that said, you need to curate what you're showing. And I mean, gosh, there's nothing more true than that, than you just, like, look at it all.

And even though you kind of maybe love this one, but it's an outlier. Like, what do you want to curate as your portfolio together? And then you can start to see those differences. But this podcast is not going to be about style. Even though we're going off on this, on this tangent, it's okay. It's always fun to talk about. I have an exercise that I really, and I recommend everyone does periodically.

But the best way to do it is actually to curate that set of images that you're looking at and then print them and then sort them, you know, just being able to hold them and look at them and sort them in that way. And you're able to, for example, on your dining room table, lay them all out next to each other. You can see trends, you can see the things that you're doing repetitively.

And I think that actually is a really nice way to do it. I love that that takes it a step further. I've always put it together in, like, one folder and then brought it into bridge, where I can see them all on my computer screen at once. But they're teeny tiny. But there is something to be said with being able to sort them and hold them and, you know, and still being able to look at them as a group.

But I think that. That looking at them as a group is just critical. Yeah, I love that. All right, so tell us about how the business piece of it started. So your photography, you've always had the interest. You were overseas. You're really diving into it. Moved back to Portland. Is that when you started your business? Yeah. So I technically did take some clients while living overseas like other american expats, but it was pretty slow, and I wasn't pushing the business side of things.

So once we were back here and settled, of course, things really picked up March of 2020, and we all know what happened, so, you know, so at that point. So it definitely was like, a slower ramp up to being a full time business because of COVID But for me, there's always been an interest in these three different pieces. So I actually had started teaching and having an education arm of my business right as I was moving back and even while I was overseas.

So the education piece started pretty early. And then. So after I came here, I was continuing the education side, trying to grow the portrait side of things. And then I had also started a small amount of school portraits while living overseas. And so then once we were back in the states, I was really, like, you know, going out to schools and preschools and trying to grow that. And I actually started that portion here during COVID by having a pop up tent in my driveway.

So it was like a big white tent. And we did school photos in the tent during COVID so that it was all safe and from there, was able to launch my school side of my business here. So that's kind of the three portions of my business that I have going. And at different times, of course, I want them to be, you know, 33% across the board. Like, that's the dream, but it's not always like that.

Right? Like, different times where your ability lies and your time. And the season, which is really a big thing of it, is the season. It all kind of impacts how much I'm doing within that space, but I continue to work on growing all three of them. Yeah. Okay. I love it with the school portraits. I imagine that's super busy in the fall. Yeah. So it's mostly fall. And I do know some school photographers who push spring because their family season is really busy in the fall, but for me, having that consistent, I call it consistent income just because it's booked months ahead.

And if you don't go well with the school, I sign them again the following year. So to me, that's consistent income that I'm also photographing while my kids are at school. Right. So I can do all the work either at home with my kids or while the kids are at school. I don't have to leave weekends and nights. So that's a big portion of why I love that.

And I love photographing kids and children. So that's really like my children's photography, you know, focus, and then I get myself in front of the eyes of their families. Yeah. Right. So, you know, when they're seeing, oh, wow. My kid took this really natural, personality filled picture with this photographer. So who is shedden? Maybe she should photograph our family. So that's actually how I'm getting a lot of family clients to.

Okay. I love it. So, I mean, this leads naturally into this diversifying of our income. Yeah. What. What should photographers kind of be looking at? Or what are the first steps if you're, you know, people are listening out there and they're like, well, right now I just have my normal clients kind of. Where do they even start? You know? That's a good question. I think part of it depends on your interests and your specialty.

So, for me, I love photographing kids and working with kids, and I also love composition and color. And really all those things overlap within each silo of my business and just in each section. Right. So if I'm out with a family client, I would love to put them in front of a red wall, you know, that has lines, for example. And then I teach composition and color to photographers.

So I found what I love and then looked at how I can do that within different spaces. Right. So I'm not sure that's a super clear answer. But with specializing in photographing children and then in the education space, took my specialties and kind of have put them into all of them, if that makes sense. Right, right. So I think that looking at what you love to do and then think about what else you could do with that.

So, for example, with you as a pet photographer, you do the pet photography, and now you're teaching, like, commercial pet photography. Right, right. Yeah. So you took what you already love and you're really good at, and then you also enjoy teaching, and so then you're teaching that thing. So I think it can be really important just to look at what your strengths are and then what else could you do with that?

Yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah, and, yeah, I mean, you can brainstorm so many different things and it doesn't always have to be photography related, nor does it have to be teaching other photographer related. I know quite a few people that really love working with even just helping people learn how to manage. Like they got a hobbyist that they got a camera for Christmas, and so they teach some like photography 101 classes locally, which becomes a nice lead magnet for attracting people that like photography as potential clients for their business.

Kind of like you're using the schools for that. You know, dog photographers can do school photos at doggy daycares, see some really cute projects like that. Yeah, yeah, there's just so many, so many different things that we can do and, and then there's, you know, so many different side hustles too, that aren't even photography related. So, yeah, and, yeah. Interrupt you, I think. No, you're good. Go ahead.

Within the education space as well, I've developed originally with another photographer, but I'm now doing it on my own. But I actually have a kids and teens photography class that I do in person in the summer. And so I'm basically taking that working with kids piece, the teaching piece, and then, you know, have developed this camp curriculum and run these two camps. And so that actually fills my space in the summer where I actually have less family sessions, that book, I'm not doing schools.

And then those families often become clients as well. Right. Because I've spent a lot of time with their kids. I've met the family multiple times at pickup and I'm also then drawing in though that color and composition, again, all those things. And so, yeah, there are a lot of different ways. And at another point in time, I was doing some social media work for some other photographers. So just like efficiently helping them, you know, get set up with a scheduling platform, going over how to reduce, reuse, recycle their material for posts.

And I think there can be a lot of ways we can help other small business owners, right. Who aren't even necessarily photographers, but to navigate the spaces that we all function in so frequently. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, yeah, there's different ways of supporting other local businesses with photography or like you had said, if there's other skills that you have, you know, maybe you have a lot of skills setting up systems, you want to help photographers set up their CRMs or, you know, website design or who know, I mean, there's so many different things.

Yeah, I love this little camp idea. So my, my first career prior to becoming a photographer was a zoological animal trainer. But my last few years at the national aviary was kind of oversaw the education department, too, so we did a lot of summer camps. So what does your, like, you know, teen camera summer camp program look like? Yeah. So it's a five day and we do a half day camp.

I don't do an all day, but it's half day, so like nine to twelve. Yep. And we meet. That's the perfect amount of time. Yeah, right? I know. For me too. We meet at a local park, which has a lot of different awesome things going on for it. So I picked that location because there's actually a set of rainbow stairs. So that's super interesting. Right? There's big fields, there's a bridge overhead.

We can hike into the park and you, you know, go in a creek bed. There's all different things we can do. And so it's five days. I have a curriculum booklet that they keep and that goes through all the lessons for each day. And we, everyone has a camera, so I actually have a set of rebels. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, so I have seven now. So they each have their own DSLR, and then they can sit there and all together learn all the settings, you know, learn how to take care of it, how to put the battery.

I mean, we literally start with how to put the battery in. Yeah. You know, how to put the memory card in and then really dive into the exposure triangle. So by the end of the second day, they're shooting in manual, and we do a lot of experimentation for them to learn those lessons. Right. So it's like, I don't know. I I'm laughing because I'm envisioning how silly I must look, but I stand, like, spinning an umbrella around, and then they're practicing, like, what happens if I have a slow shutter speed, you know?

That's fantastic. How does the picture look? What happens if I speed it up? How does the picture look? So we just do a lot of playing and experimenting and all of that so that they can learn how to work in manual. And then we have some creativity exercises and go through it. So that's kind of the short version. That's awesome. So did you just decide to create this, and then you kind of created it and marketed it on your own, or were you able to plug into an already existing camp structure?

Yeah, so I did co create it with another photographer. She's since moved overseas, so I'm doing it on my own. Now, but in terms of finding the clients, actually, SEO has been my main source of finding the families. And I think one thing they love about it is it's a photography camp, but with cameras, right? Not just iPhones. Yeah, I think for two reasons. So the kids get to hold the camera, right, turn the knobs and the dials, and do all of that piece, which I think engages their brain in a different way than using an iPhone, which they're already doing since birth, basically.

Yeah. So I think they're really drawn to what that can do for them. And actually, at the last camp, it was interesting. Well, for one, we're kind of a spectacle because there will be, like, ten of us with cameras walking around together, which we've all experienced as adults. Right. At any photography conference. But then when people see ten kids walking around with cameras, they're like, this is very interesting.

But we saw a woman came by and she was like, this is awesome. I love seeing them with their cameras. And she said, this is how I started, and I'm a filmmaker now. Oh, wow. It was just really reaffirming about the value and what it provides. And I think also that it's not just a random camp person. I'm a photographer, so I think that's partly why the families are drawn to it as well.

That's awesome. Yeah, I love that. I love it for so many reasons that it's, you know, fun and you enjoy it and, like, the kids love it, and it's like finding able ways to reach out to potential clients before their clients. It's such a great marketing strategy because then they know, like, and trust you. I mean, they let their kid hang out with you all week, you know, and then it becomes a lot easier to kind of market that.

So maybe can you give us an overview, just generally, of what your revenue structure looks like throughout the year with just, like, what different items are you focusing on at different parts of the year? What's that schedule look like? Yeah. So I will fully admit it's not yet grown right to where I would like it to. We always have more goals. Growing is still happening right now. The bulk of my income actually comes from my school photography.

Yeah. And then the school part and the education part. I'm sorry. Yeah. Hi. More coffee? The education piece and the portrait piece are actually still kind of growing to catch up to where the school stuff is. And so for me, fall, of course, like many of us, is the bulk of my income right now with schools. But then I also have schools in the spring, and so in between that space, like January, February, March, is when I'm doing all the back end, you know, website development and stuff like that, and then also developing additional courses and marketing the courses.

So in that first quarter of the year, I'm really pushing the education piece for the online side of the business and then developing other materials as things come up. And then spring again will be schools and some families. And then heading into summer, I do camp prep for the fall schools, you know, prep for the fall families, and then continue pushing the education. But it does slow down a bit, as I think many of my clients on the education piece are busy moms.

We're also busy in the summer, even though ideally, mentally, it sounds like a good plan to get out with your kids and take a lot of pictures. No, there's not a lot of mental bandwidth in the summer. Yeah. And I always think I'm going to have more space and then I don't, and this summer's even been more intense. So, yeah, so the sales side of education goes down a little bit in the summer, but then I do have the option of spending a bit more time with my kids, photographing them.

Right. To develop other material and stuff, and then prep for the fall again. So for me, my portrait side of my business is fairly spread out during the year. It's not quite as seasonal. It does have a little blip in the fall, but because my schools are so heavy in the fall, I don't push fall as a big thing. I'm saying let's do in home sessions in the winter.

Let's get out in Portland while the weather's nice, you know? Yeah, it becomes unpredictable actually, here in the fall, so. Oh, really? Yeah, we, our rain is. We have more rain in the fall, actually. Usually. It's like, so funny. I feel like most of the world has the most beautiful weather, like September and October. Like, it's the best time everywhere. And Portland's changing with all of the weather of the world.

So we sometimes have summer weather in the fall, and sometimes it's cold very early, so it's a bit unpredictable. Or we also have wildfires, you know, the impact. I don't do sessions when we can't breathe, so. No, no. So that's the thing. I also don't do it if we have like a hundred, anything over 100. Yeah, yeah. That's unusual for us too. But I really like how there's some slow seasons, and then I can push the education and develop more education, you know, and then work on marketing and stuff during those.

I think that's really, I mean, a lot of us that run our own business thrive, at least I do, on the differences and being able to focus on one thing, and then I'm like, okay, now I get to shift gears and come over here because I, I look at just other jobs of, you know, whenever I go to the doctor or the dentist, I'm like, this person comes room to room all day, every day, doing very similar things.

I'm like, oh, I would not do well. I would not do well in this profession. Yeah. I mean, and, you know, I was in healthcare before, and there were a lot of differences about it. I had different types of patients, but for me, there was also that just a different amount of emotional stress involved with it. Yeah. And so being able to be in charge of my own schedule.

Right. What I'm gonna do, when I'm gonna do it, I think. And just not having the emotional drain from work made a huge difference. Yeah, yeah. Hundred percent. Yes. And I love being able to. Right. Just be like, hey, June is after school gets out, there's no sessions, and so that's when we do a holiday. Right. And having that flexibility and not having to ask permission is, you know, it's like, you can't even put a price on not having to ask permission to go on vacation.

Yes. The best thing ever. I was just like, oh, man. To have to, like, go back to asking someone for, hey, I'm thinking of taking a vacation at this time. Like, oh, I am so. I like to joke that I am completely unemployable. Like, for the rest of my life, I can. Cannot be employed. Just not. Not going to happen. No, it's. Yeah, it's too much. But I will find some way to earn money that does not involve getting a job.

Yeah, but you're an entrepreneur, so that's exactly, it's just you're in charge of your job. Yeah. I think that ownership of our destiny, I guess, in a way, right. Is really valuable. Really. You can't put a price on what that piece is. Yeah. Do I remember correctly at the beginning you said that you didn't feel like you fell into, like, quote, creative, like the creative bubble. I'm the same.

Like, I never labeled myself as creative, but I think the more that we do this, I mean, obviously as entrepreneurs, you have to be creative. And even if we have any interest in photography, we're obviously slightly creative. You know, besides the fact that we're all born creative and then, you know, school, whatever, like, no, no, no, go do practical things. What advice do you have for other people that might not identify as creative or they might just feel like, oh, I don't know, am I in the right profession?

Even though I love photography, but I'm not as creative as so and so over there? That's a really good question. And actually something I was thinking about during this last camp that I had because we spent a lot of time experimenting. And so, for example, one thing we were doing, which was really fun and as an adult, we just wouldn't probably do this, was I had the kids laying on the ground, they exposed for the sky, and then we were throwing these, like, see through colored scarves in the air, and then they were just photographing them.

Right. And that, it was amazing to me how such a simple exercise created such diverse work, interesting work, what you could do with it later. And so I, for me, sometimes I also, like you said, feel less creative. But then I'll sit down and, for example, I have a workbook for a class I've been working on. And I made this whole workbook, and it's color organized, and I really like how it looks.

And I was like, oh, I am creative. It's just I need different parameters, maybe than other people. And so I would say just do what motivates you. Do what you're interested in and see where it takes you, because that's where the magic lies, really. Not by trying to be someone else or emulate someone else, but just experiment and see what you like when you're motivated by something or inspired by something, then take a picture there and see what comes of it and you'll find your creative space.

Yeah. I love that. I think it's really important, too, if you're feeling unmotivated to manufacture motivation sometimes and just go shoot, go do something, get moving. And then that motion will sometimes help then lead to more motivation because sometimes we can all get stuck in the Netflix couch and the doom scrolling. That's true. But sometimes you find a show that you watch, right? And then you're like, oh, look how they lit this.

I find, now I'm looking at how they lit a scene. You know, there's some particular shows. Yeah, I don't, we won't list them all, but you know where you're watching it and you're like, oh, look how they used color theory. Uh huh. You know, but it's subtle, right? Yeah, but really impacts us. So you can do research from television. I love that. Yeah. I usually had to pause a couple times when I was watching house of cards years ago, because the lighting they used, like, in the residence of the white house, was amazing.

I'm like, oh, my God. It's so beautiful. I just need to admire this light for a minute, and then I'm watching my trashy bachelor, and they're, like, interviewing them with, like, hot spot on their face. I'm like, did no one get a scrim? What? What's wrong with you? Because I have one on my face right now. Yeah, well, and I. Handmaid's tale, which is kind of a dark show, but really, seeing how they use color to change your feeling about what's happening, it's really.

It's really valuable. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Yeah. Let's dive into the color stuff a little bit more, because, I mean, it is such a huge piece of photography, and I feel like people don't give that the focus that they should when they're learning. Right. They're just, like, trying to learn the manual settings and, you know, trying to figure out what the hell to do with the light, and they're just not even thinking about color.

So where should people even start thinking about that? You know? I think there's two different ways that I approach it. So one is, I call it found color. Yeah. So, you know, it's just coming upon a scene or a place and being like, oh, this is cool. This color combination is cool. How can I make this even stronger or better? And so sometimes I would do that. For example, I found a yellow wall, and then I thought, okay, my daughter has this cool blue dress with a little design on it, and so I intentionally put her in there one day.

She was in a good mood, and we went to the yellow wall, you know, and took pictures. So I think that some of it is, like, collecting things that you find out in your city or your neighborhood that are interesting and then thinking of a way you can elevate it and make it stronger through color. So a lot of it's, you know, with color theory in the color wheel, but if you can layer more than one interesting color thing and composition, then it becomes even stronger.

So that's usually what I'm trying to do, is, like, layer those on top of each other so that you have multiple levels, but it's not just location and clothes that impact the color. Right. You need to also know how to edit appropriately for color. And so that's, you know, there's a skin tones piece, but then also just having accurate color if that's what you're going for. Personally, I like, accurate color.

Same. Yeah. So not to, like, diss on people who use other colors, but, you know, but I really want my kids to look like themselves. I want the place to look like it looked. I will accentuate color some, but I'm still making things look natural. I mean, even you can see behind me, right. All these kind of colorful things. So if we go to a tulip field, I would tell my clients, like, hey, if there's a color in your house you want to include, think about that, and then we can think about what they should wear.

So if we're going to do purple tulips and your kid has a yellow dress, that's just going to make for a stronger image. Or is it purple tulips with a purple dress. Right. For a monochrome look. So there's all different ways to kind of find it, create it, and then also learn the editing piece so you can do it. I love it. Are you a custom white balance kind of girl or are you edit later?

Oh, I have to see your question. Like, I'm obsessed with my expo disc, and people laugh at me all the time, but I'm like, it comes into lightroom and I'm like, who's laughing now? Yeah. So I. So I have an expo disc that I don't use anymore. Yeah. But I used to when I first started, but I do shoot in Kelvin and. And then get in lightroom and use the dropper and make sure that the color.

Yeah. So I have a color and composition course, and actually, there's a ton of editing videos, so in there, you even can go in and see exactly how I do the white balance for skin tones and color and everything. Yeah. Learning. Oh, what's that thing called? You know, with all the colors in the rectangle, the. Oh, the histogram? Not the histogram. There's, like, a thing you can buy.

I don't have one. Oh, the color passport checker. Yeah. So I'm always interested in how awesome that would be to have. Yeah. But, like, for schools, I don't need it because I shoot with a gray background. Yeah. And I do use one light, so, yeah, the color becomes really consistent. Yeah, yeah, I. But, yeah, the color passport checker is awesome. I actually used to have one. I was obsessed with it, and then I left it somewhere on a city sidewalk at one day and just didn't.

Ended up replacing it. But that thing was amazing. So, yeah, I am a stickler. Like, crazy for getting accurate color. Like, I hate the color cast. People are like, oh, you know, there should be green and the dog's fur on the white grass. I'm like, no, not that much. I want it white. I want this fur black. Like, I am a total stickler for that. So I hear you.

Yeah, I mean, I have my window closed, so you can't tell right now. But, you know, here in Portland, Oregon, everything's just green. Everything, yeah. Oh, my gosh. It is here too. In Charlotte, it's, like, thick trees, and you go out west because I teach workshops out there sometimes, and it's like this amazing pine forest that has the perfect amount of filtering light. I'm just like, we have trees, and it is either full sun or, like, dark shade.

I'm like, can I just get a filtering tree? Yeah, we do have a lot of filtering trees, but we have a lot of green, which is hard. But for me, shooting in Kelvin feels like I'm doing something ahead of time. I recently got a fuji for traveling, and so I shot the entire thing in auto white balance, and I came home and I was like, wait, what did I.

What did I do? What happened? Yeah, but it was also fine. Like, it does a better job than my canon in terms of auto white balance. So for travel, it was fine. Yeah, I very. I was like, oh, wait. I didn't have to adjust my white balance as often. That's impressive. Yeah, but they're personal travel photos. Right? So your level of a little more flexible. Yeah. And I was just trying to be, like, lighter handed.

You're like, I'm trying to not be as OCD about my color, but. Okay, we got it. You're in good company. I understand. Real quick question, though. Coming back to those color and choosing kind of what colors to wear, what are some best practices with the color wheel? Like, we can do that same color for, like, a monochromatic or, like, across the color wheel for some contrast. Do you ever do images next to the color?

Kind of like, what are the different palettes or combinations that people should look at? Yeah, I mean, I always recommend, in terms of client work, asking them if there's something that they want to have in their home to highlight so they can use that as a starting point. So, for example, if they're redecorating their living room and having blue accents, then, like, okay, let's talk about having blues and then some, like, oranges and browns, you know?

And how would that look in your space? So I like to think of it for client sessions a little bit from a decorating perspective, because 100%. Yeah, I want them to and I want them to put them up on the wall, right? Yep. So if we went out, for example, and, you know, they wore primary colors and then come home and their homes completely neutrals, this might not look good.

I actually had, my daughter and I, we did family photos while we were traveling in London, and we went, like, we went for it. So one was in a red shirt, one was in a yellow shirt, and I wore a bright blue shirt. And we just really went for, like, we're going to be primary colors and modern and bold. So I think. But I like to start with, for personal photography, thinking about monochrome, then go with complementary colors across the color wheel and then see where you can layer them in.

Okay. And then also, like, sometimes just going for a rainbow, which can sound like a lot, but I think particularly with kids, you know, you can get all the colors of a rainbow in a picture and it looks awesome, then I think that can be a cool way to look at it, too. Yeah, I love that. So fun. Awesome. Well, this has been a really fun conversation, and I think hopefully it's opened up some people's ideas for some different ways that they might want to bring in some additional revenue into their business.

And of course, I love geeking out over color and some of that craft stuff with you as well. That was awesome. Where can people find you to see some of your awesome color composition? All your great work. Yeah. So my website is honeycutphotography.com, and that's h u not hony. And I have all the portions of my business are on there, so you can see my schoolwork, my client work, and then also what I'm offering in education and on Instagram, it's Rebecca Honeycutt.

Education has most of my creative, more creative photography on there. And right now, like I said, I have a color and composition class that is for sale. And there's a couple free trainings, like a webinar and a PDF that are accessible. And then, I mean, I showed you guys. For those of you who see any clips, I recently just taught a profitable model call class, and so that was taught in person, but I'll be launching that.

And then with my kids camp, something I'm really looking forward to getting finished in the next year is kind of two iterations of it. Right. So I'm taking the in person thing that's been developed that I've been doing, then I'm going to offer it as an online class for kids and teens, because not everyone lives here. Right? Yeah. And. Or, you know how it can fit into a child's schedule, whether they're homeschooled or traveling.

Like, you know, they'd have an opportunity for the same type of curriculum. And then an offshoot from that is offering it to other photographers to be able to purchase, purchase the curriculum, purchase a workbook that they can then tailor for their business and all of that so that you could, for example, be like, hey, I'm going to do this, but I don't have to start from zero. Yeah, right?

I've already got you, like, 80% of the way ready. I love it. You know, so those are some other offshoots coming up. Awesome. I love it. Yeah. And Honeycutt is spelled h u n n I c u t t is you guys out there? We'll have links down in the show notes, but definitely go check it out. Rebecca's work is beautiful. I'm a sucker for fun composition and, like, a sucker for shooting in the city.

And, like, you know, I'm even on your website and it's like the little kid at the post office and all the little post office boxes and just like, having that repetitive patterns and, oh, my gosh, it's just, like my favorite, so. Oh, thank you. That was actually a little series. We did a post office series. I love it. It's fantastic. So, so, so fun. There's just so many cool places.

Like, once people start to open their eyes to the different lines and the different colors and the different textures, there's just so many places to create these amazing images that are, like, all under our nose and the normal places that we go every day. But I think we get so busy with got to do these errands, got to run here and there that we don't allow ourselves to see them.

So being able to kind of just start to open your eyes up to those definitely makes us so much more of a creative photographer. And that's just so fun. Yeah. When it teaches you to be able to shoot in unusual circumstances. Right. We don't always have full control of everything, and so when you kind of practice in all different spaces, then you become just a stronger photographer. Yeah.

And I think, oh, I lost my train of thought. That's okay. I was going to say it allows you to differentiate yourself, too, from other photographers in your market because there's always going to be a million photographers that can do decent images in the park. But, like, if you have this unique eye that you can give your clients, you know, maybe some natural photos, I would always say, too, because I love shooting in the city like, urban sessions are my favorite.

So I always tell my clients, you know, because the pet clients still want some natural images. I'm like, listen, we're still going to take some images in some of the landscaping downtown or some of the smaller parks that it will look like you're in the park. But we also have these textures and lines and all these amazing other things, too, to create so much variety in such a fun way.

Yeah. Actually, what I was gonna say is, I think sometimes people are. I don't know if afraid is the right word, but they don't like bringing out their camera in these unusual settings. Right. Because other people sometimes look at you like, what are you doing? Right. Like, why are you taking pictures of your kids in the post office? Yeah. But really, for me, I was just like, you know what?

This is for us. And it's fun, and they're just curious. I don't know. No one's really judging you. They're actually curious. And I think sometimes they're probably like, oh, good for you. Like, you're out here doing something. So I think there's a little bit of just taking off the jacket, of being afraid of what other people think of you with your camera out and just try to let that go.

I mean, I take pictures of my kids getting on the airplane, and everyone looks at me funny, but they're some of my favorite pictures. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so just don't worry about what everyone else thinks. Lay on the ground, stand on a chair. Who cares? Just, yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh. If you're photographing dogs, do those things and then make really obnoxious sounds, so everybody looks at you.

Although photographing kids, I was also making really obnoxious sounds. So I guess that goes for. For either. Yes, I think it's true. There's some similar. There's definitely crossovers between, like, toddler and pet. Oh, my gosh. So much. It's. It's just crazy. Yeah. The dogs like noises. The toddlers, like, fart noises. So, you know, just. Just kind of similar. Yeah. And I'm sure even, like, I love having the eye focus with the mirrorless because then I can hold my camera, you know, next to me at the preschools.

Right. And then I can interact with them. And I think the same thing helps with dogs. Right? 100%. Looking at the black spot, especially dogs, a little bit nervous, you can just have your eyes above so they can look at your eyes and not this big, giant, scary camera lens. Giant. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. So good. Well, Rebecca, this was fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing everything. I know our audience is really going to enjoy this conversation.

You guys definitely go check out Rebecca's work. It's absolutely beautiful. Drop her a note and I say hello, and we'll see you guys next week.