Canadian photographer, recipe developer and blogger Heidi Richter joins me to talk about her work as both a commercial and editorial food and nature photographer.
We discuss her early steps as a self-taught photographer who wanted to take better photos of her first child all the way through to earning a coveted spot on Nikon's annual creator team - as well as the challenges of being a small, creative business owner, juggling multiple roles, mom guilt, creative burnout and why we need to be both assertive, human and adaptable in an age of technological change and generative AI.
This is a great episode for creatives who...
This episode is brought to you by our Premium Subscriber Community on Patreon and Buzzsprout
For a summary of this episode and all the links mentioned please visit:
Episode157 Creative Canadian: Photographer Heidi Richter
You can find Heidi at thesimplegreen.com (her blog) or heidirichter.com (her portfolio) as well as on Instagram (@the_simple_green), Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com, finelimeillustrations.com or on Instagram @finelimedesigns.
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And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast
Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.
Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.
Canadian photographer, recipe developer and blogger Heidi Richter joins me to talk about her work as both a commercial and editorial food and nature photographer.
We discuss her early steps as a self-taught photographer who wanted to take better photos of her first child all the way through to earning a coveted spot on Nikon's annual creator team - as well as the challenges of being a small, creative business owner, juggling multiple roles, mom guilt, creative burnout and why we need to be both assertive, human and adaptable in an age of technological change and generative AI.
This is a great episode for creatives who...
This episode is brought to you by our Premium Subscriber Community on Patreon and Buzzsprout
For a summary of this episode and all the links mentioned please visit:
Episode157 Creative Canadian: Photographer Heidi Richter
You can find Heidi at thesimplegreen.com (her blog) or heidirichter.com (her portfolio) as well as on Instagram (@the_simple_green), Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com, finelimeillustrations.com or on Instagram @finelimedesigns.
You can connect with the podcast on:
For a list of all available episodes, please visit:
And She Looked Up Creative Hour Podcast
Each week The And She Looked Up Podcast sits down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. This podcast is for Canadian artists, makers and creators who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love.
Your host, Melissa Hartfiel (@finelimedesigns), left a 20 year career in corporate retail and has been happily self-employed as a working creative since 2010. She's a graphic designer, writer and illustrator as well as the co-founder of a multi-six figure a year business in the digital content space. She resides just outside of Vancouver, BC.
This week's episode of the and she Looked Up podcast is brought to you by our premium subscriber community on Patreon and Buzzsprout. Their ongoing financial support of the show ensures I can continue to bring the podcast to you. Want to help out? Head over to patreoncom. Forward slash, and she looked up. That's patreon p-a-t-r-e-o-n dot com. Forward slash, and she looked up. That's Patreon P-A-T-R-E-O-Ncom. Forward slash and she looked up. There you can join the community for free or you can choose to be a premium supporter for $4.50 a month, and that's in Canadian dollars. Paid supporters get access to a monthly exclusive podcast episode only available to premium subscribers. You can also click the support the show link in the episode notes on your podcast player to support us via Buzzsprout, where you will also get access to each month's exclusive premium supporter episode. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all our monthly supporters. They are the engine that keeps the podcast running and they're a pretty cool bunch too. And now let's get on with the show.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Angie Looked Up Podcast. Each week we sit down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. I'm your host, melissa Hartfield, and, after leaving a 20-year career in corporate retail, I've been happily self-employed for 12 years. I'm a graphic designer, an illustrator and a multi-six-figure-a-year entrepreneur in the digital content space. This podcast is for the artists, the makers and the creatives who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the and she Looked Up podcast. As always, I am your host, melissa, and this week I'm so pleased to be welcoming photographer Heidi Richter to the show.
Speaker 2:Welcome, heidi it's so great to have you here. Thank you so much for having me, melissa. It's so nice to actually get the chance to talk to you like this. I know We've known each other through the interwebs for a while yes, for a long time now. I think it's probably been about eight years or so, something like that. So, yeah, it's really nice. Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to it, me too.
Speaker 1:I am really looking forward to our chat today. Heidi and I are both very avid gardeners and I think we could probably geek out talking about garden things for the whole hour. But we're going to be talking about much more than just gardening, although I think that will make an appearance at some point. But for those of you who are not familiar with Heidi, she is a Vancouver Island-based food photographer, recipe developer and blogger. You may be familiar with Heidi. She is a Vancouver Island-based food photographer, recipe developer and blogger. You may be familiar with her website, the Simple Green. She has been working in the industry for almost a decade and over the years she's worked with some pretty big brands that you will recognize, like Vitamix and Nikon. Heidi is known for her moody, bold imagery and she has a penchant for photographing her garden in the summer months, which I completely um uh, relate to something about that golden hour with you. You have to get your camera out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's obligatory, yeah it is and I think you are on. Are you you near the Nanaimo area of Vancouver Island?
Speaker 2:yes, yes, yeah, I am. Um, yeah, and I've been here for about 14 years now. I moved actually from Vancouver, the mainland. Oh, I went the opposite direction. I was born on the island, so yeah.
Speaker 2:I've been here for about 14 years now. It's a lovely spot, yeah, it is really nice, yeah, and it's changed a lot in the last, you know, since I first moved here. Um, I actually wasn't sure I was going to stay, but I kept asking myself that question Am I staying, am I going, am I not? And then, yeah, 14 years later, I'm still here and I'm glad I just kind of stopped questioning and just stayed.
Speaker 1:So before, we get into the episode. The first question I ask everyone who comes on this show is did you feel like you were creative as a kid?
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely. And the only reason I can say that confidently now is because I've had so much contrast in my life from times when I was highly creative to times when I was a little bit more systematic and not so artistic. I guess we'll put it that way and looking back, I can see that I'm sure we'll talk more about this. But looking back, I can see now that creativity was something that was always really, really innate with me. I think it's innate in a lot of people, maybe all of us but it was something that was, um, you know, really true to my like, it was within my nature and it made me feel like a whole person. I guess is the best way to put it. Um, you know like, yeah, as a child, I never would have. I never considered myself like, oh, I'm creative. It was, you know, growing up in in my, with my family. My dad was actually a very, very creative person, and so it's something that was just like very normalized in our home. And it wasn't until sort of my later years in like elementary school and high school that I started getting labeled as the creative person or the artist, right. But yeah, as a child I never thought I was creative. I was just being a kid and doing things that I loved doing. You know, my dad taught me how to paint and draw, and my mom was also very creative. She taught me how to bake and to cook, as well as sewing. So there was a lot of creative pursuits that I had as a child and, of course, too, growing up. This this was in like the 80s and 90s, so there wasn't a lot of like major technology at the time. So I know, yeah, I had to like really find ways to entertain myself. You know, we had TV and and and what have you, and I think the internet was just kind of becoming a thing when I was growing up. So, my, you know, some of the, a lot of the things that I did for me time, you know, as a child and like a young, a young me, um was uh, yeah, all the creative pursuits, Like I would sew, I would cook and bake.
Speaker 2:Uh, I did a lot of gardening with my parents too, and I had this one particular doll. We didn't have a lot of toys growing up, and it wasn't because we were poor or anything or hard done by, but my dad is German and so he's a very practical man and you never know what you will. So I didn't have a lot of toys, but I did have this one doll and I remember as a kid just absolutely like loving this doll and I created a whole life for her. So I would sew clothes for her. I would, you know, have these imaginative adventures that she would go on and, and she was a big part of my childhood and, I think, really helped me be creative as a child too. Right, it was something I enjoyed doing and yeah, so I know I'm rambling, but I love this question.
Speaker 1:This is my favorite question to ask and I think a really good question to really make me think about it.
Speaker 2:Um, like you know, I'm like was I really creative as a child? And I think the answer really is yes, I was highly creative. Um, and looking back, I can really see how much that, you know, um, my childhood shaped who I am and, like what I really enjoy doing now and and all that.
Speaker 1:So it's, it's so interesting because I I think we're all creative as kids. Some some of us continue on that way, some of us lose it, but I don't think the creativity is ever gone. But the interesting thing with this question is that there are, even though we are all creative as children you just have to watch kids. They're all creative. But some people so identify with being creative as kids and other people who come on the show are just like, nope, was not creative as a kid. But as they start to talk about the things they did as a kid, it's like, yeah, you were creative, but they they never identified as that. So it's just, it's fascinating. It really is how we kind of self-identify.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and watching my my two cause I have two boys Right Watching them as well is I really do see that no-transcript. It's just the thing that I think we are innately quite creative but we just don't identify that way. And for me, it wasn't until I started being called the creative person or the artist you know in high school that I was like oh, I guess I am, that you know oh interesting.
Speaker 1:So yeah, when other people started to say that's who?
Speaker 2:yeah, other people really realize yeah, it's so interesting.
Speaker 1:So when did you pick up a camera? Because I noticed you didn't mention that as something you did when you were younger. So where did the camera come from?
Speaker 2:The photography was something I think was really intimidating for me. Back in high school there was a photography class that you could take and I wanted nothing to do with it. I was no, I'll do the fine arts, I'll do the drawing and the painting and the acting, but I'm not going to go near that technology stuff because that seems scary to me, Go figure. And it really wasn't until my first son was born that I really got into photography. He was sort of my inspiration to start, and I've heard this from quite a few other photographers. They say, you know, when they had their kids, they wanted to capture really special photos of them and so they started doing photography. And that's really what happened for me too.
Speaker 2:I had, you know, my son was born, I had told my husband that, oh, you know, I kind of think I'd like to get into photography and this sort of bleeds into. I'm sort of jumping ahead with you know where I've been in my journey, but essentially it was around 2015,. You know, after my son was born, that I just really fell in love with photography. And, funny enough, I had actually, you know, through this discovery of this new passion I had, I had found out uh, my dad was also quite the avid photographer when he was growing up and so, yeah, we we ended up having. It was like bonding for us, like extra bonding. Um, so maybe it was also something in my DNA, I don't know, Cause my dad was really big into photography that.
Speaker 1:I yeah, that's interesting. It's the same with me and my mom. We have the same kind of. That's how photography sort of came about for me, and it's interesting. I have another friend who came to Canada as a teenager from Poland, and picked up photography as an adult, and it was talking to his dad years later that he discovered his father had been a photographer in Poland and had left all his photography gear behind when they came to Canada and he had no idea he didn't remember seeing his dad with a camera and yet that's what his dad had done and it became this whole bonding experience for them as many years later. So interesting.
Speaker 2:That's really sweet Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, did you?
Speaker 2:did you go out and buy it, like, did you have a camera or did you just decide, like I'm going to I I got to go out and buy one because I want to take some pictures, yeah, so what ended up happening was I had I told my husband about you, you know, I kind of think I'd like to, you know, because I was just using, like, my phone camera to take pictures on my phone. I'm like, no, it needs to be better than this, because that's my perfectionist brain. That was like, no, it has to be this way. And so he had, um, initially, um bought me a camera for my birthday and it was. It was just a Panasonic bridge camera, like nothing super fancy, um, and it was actually a really great little camera. I got some really awesome shots with it and I actually did get quite a bit of work with it too. But, um, but, uh, yeah, so that's how it started.
Speaker 2:And then I had then ventured on to um, looking at, you know, full DSLR cameras and and then, yeah, everything just kind of took off from there. It was sort of the missing piece, I guess. You know, once I learned the limitations of the bridge camera that I was using, uh, I then moved on to like a full DSLR and and it was, I remember, when it was in my hands, it just felt so natural and right and that, yeah, I still have that. It just fit. Yes, it felt so good Um so, yeah, how did you learn?
Speaker 1:Like once you realized, hey, this is something that really piques my interest, like I want to learn more. Was it just kind of um, getting to a point where the photo didn't match what you had in your head? Or was it cause you mentioned that you, you shied away from it as a teenager because of tech behind it? So what was it that kind of helped you overcome that?
Speaker 2:hesitation. I guess I spent and keep in mind too. So my son was just born, I was on mat leave, so I had quite a bit of you know, I shouldn't say quite a bit of free time, because I have a young baby.
Speaker 1:No, but they do sleep a lot when they're, when they're they're.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you would sleep and, and you know, I wanted something to, you know, to keep me, you know, stimulated in a way, and and so I really relished learning um, how to take photos and how to work my camera, and I learned it all online, like just through YouTube tutorials. And my dad as well taught me some techniques. Of course, he was, you know, very used to shooting with film and he used, like he would use, an old school light meter when he was out photographing, right, because this was in like the 60s and 70s yeah, that's what you use.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what you use. Yeah, that's what. So. So most of what I learned came from online, uh, tutorials, and I just sort of pieced things together and there was a lot of trial and error. I never really took a a solid. I never took a, a course in photography, and that's I'm not saying that I'm so great, like I never took a course in photography, and that's I'm not saying that I'm so great, like I never took a course. You know, I wanted to, but of course, finding the time to do that was a little bit tricky. So I did, I pieced things together and I did a lot of trial and error. I mean a lot trial and error. I mean a lot.
Speaker 1:Um, I think every photographer takes a long time to get to where they feel comfortable, you know, with when they're working with the camera, and it did take me a long time um, that's one of the beauties of being able to learn, like digital photography has made photography so much more accessible to people, because you can make those mistakes and experiment without having to pay for the film and the processing and all of that. So you have that opportunity to try a lot of different things and do the trial and error, which is I don't think we would have been able to do in the 70s and 80s.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I think about that all the time and that was one of the things that my dad had taught me. He said, you know, just because you have a DSLR camera doesn't mean you can just fire off shots all the time. He said, you know, really be mindful about what you're trying to capture and think about it before you hit the button. You know, really give yourself. You know, think, okay, if this was the only photo I would be able to take, would I be happy with what I see in camera? Obviously, that's not easy to do when you're working with, like, a moving subject, right, you just need to fire that button, right. But with, you know, that was more so with, like, my kids, I would just okay, just you know, clicking the button until I get something.
Speaker 2:But with you know, with food photography my dad did teach me to. You know, just kind of slow down a little bit and you know, work, work what you see in the camera until you're happy with it, and then it's a shutter and uh, but yeah, and and it's funny because a lot of I, obviously I do food photography. That's my, that's my thing. But when I learned to, to use my camera and to edit photos, it came from what I? A lot of the stuff that I studied was actually land. I learned from landscape photographers, which seems really strange, um, but back when I started, there wasn't a whole ton of education around food photography like there is now, and so I I took what I could from, you know, these landscape, landscape photographers or portrait photographers, and then just started trial and error applying it to food and slowly I got there that led you to food.
Speaker 1:I mean, you started out you wanted to take pictures of your kids totally understandable, Like you said, a lot of people do that and then, somewhere along the way, you started shooting food and you started a food blog. Like what led you to that?
Speaker 2:So, oh my gosh, that's. It's kind of a long story. So to really do that question justice, I think I have to kind of go back quite a bit. And so my 20s were really a time of where I don't say I abandoned my creativity, but after high school I pursued a completely different path. Um, I wasn't doing a lot of artistic stuff, I wasn't doing theater, I didn't pursue fine arts or anything remotely like that. I I went into sciences and, and, um, what ended up happening was I? So when I say sciences, I mean like health sciences. So I studied exercise science, which seems very different from what I'm doing now.
Speaker 2:So I did that in university and then I really fell in love with the whole you know thing and and being, you know, really active and athletic and, you know, structured and um, this goal-oriented, I guess is the best way to put it and always on, always on the go. So I, so, within that industry, is a lot of like this was. This was also a long time ago, when my diet culture was really, really rampant.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was very rampant, that is the best word. Yet it was very rampant and I ended up becoming a fitness competitor which takes that diet culture to an extreme to attain a certain physique and a certain look.
Speaker 2:Right and I did do several competitions. But with that came this like hyper, hyper, regimented eating. Yeah, you know, you got to get this much protein, you got to get drink this much water every day, you got to do x, do xyz every day and your macros and your mind, all this stuff, and it took my, my original love of food and baking as a child and just sort of pushed it away. I was like, nope, that's not. You know, this is the way I am, this is how I'm going to eat and, you know, lead my life. And eventually what happened was I'll try to make this not too long of a story During all this time, you know, working in the health industry, my dad ended up having a stroke and I sort of fell into this like really dark place and I found that I couldn't exercise my way out of that dark place.
Speaker 2:I couldn't structure my life out of this dark place.
Speaker 2:I couldn't achieve more and more and more goals to get out of this dark place that I was in Um and my dad is fine, by the way, like he, he's good, just for the record Um, but what?
Speaker 2:What ended up happening was I had to rediscover um, my love and my passion for food, the things that I loved as a child, and that creative expression through food and and it was. It was funny because it was such a stark contrast going from, you know, this child that loved cooking and baking to then this hyper structured way of eating all the time and looking at food, to then having to read this like rediscovering that love again and it was. It was such a. It was a really, really hard time in my life, but it was also a really amazing time because I then found my way out of the darkness again, and it was through rediscovering my love for creating in the kitchen, cooking and baking and you know those types of things. Um, and then what ended up happening was I had I started dabbling with the idea of starting a food blog, and this was in 2009, so then I I did start one.
Speaker 2:This is it was on a bloggercom and very very very basic and I was taking pictures of my food with. This was, I think, even before iPhones were a thing. Maybe I didn't have an iPhone, but I was using a flip phone and I was taking my food photos with this flip phone and they were probably orange, weren't they?
Speaker 2:they were a little bit grainy, a little bit. They actually had kind of a bluey tinge to them, but I was super proud of those photos. So the food blog was sort of born out of that time. But it wasn't until about 2015 that I picked it up again. So I kept it as a hobby, sort of just like a thing that I did on the side for fun. It really I think I maybe had like five subscribers to it. You know it was very small, um, but I was happy with it. I just enjoyed doing it.
Speaker 2:But then, when I had my first son and I was on mat leave and I had found this love of photography, I found myself with an opportunity to actually take food blogging and food photography to another level, and I did so. I started using my camera to take better pictures of food and really started down that path and I just fell in love with it. So, as much as I love taking photos of my son, it was, it was food that really sort of captured, or helped me capture, this love of photography, and maybe it was the fact that I got. You know, food doesn't move around, so it was so much easier to just take photos. I could set it up exactly how I wanted to have some control and that's sort of how I fell in to food photography. So it didn't sort of come out of nowhere, but it was definitely. Yeah, it came through like a rediscovery and then combining it with this new passion I had for photography and um and yeah, that's so interesting.
Speaker 1:We've had a lot of people on the show who start, who were food bloggers, who've moved on to other creative pursuits. We've had some who are still food bloggers on the show and it's interesting how many people who went into food blogging did it for similar reasons to you and that's very similar to my story too. Is it comes? It came out of kind of a rediscovery or wanting to or just looking for an escape, you know, from a bad situation, or a surprising number of PhD people have been on the show who started their food blogs while doing their dissertation as an escape and and things like that.
Speaker 1:And it's it's interesting how how food is what helped people, has helped so many of them connect back to who they were.
Speaker 2:So that's an interesting like it just like it really lifted me out of you know I it was like this really dark place I was and it just helped me feel like, like I could use, like be creative in, like, I guess, a productive way maybe, because you know, I think a lot of people think, oh, art's not productive, you can't make a living doing that eating or that right, you got to be successful and I think for me I still sort of had that nagging voice in my head but I felt like with food, it's practical, it's super creative you have to eat, right you have to, we have to eat, yes, and, and it really, um, it really, you know, helped me move out of that time and into into where I am now very.
Speaker 1:It's a very common thread that seems to run through a lot of food blogs. Um, just, I was just working with a new client, uh, last week, and her food blogs was came out of her father passing away. That's what, what helped her deal with her grief, and so it's just yeah, food is such a it's a comfort. It is, it's a comfort, it's a connector, it's so many things. It's so much more than just food. It absolutely is. Yeah, absolutely. And you are also, like I mentioned at the beginning, you're an avid gardener and I mean the things we grow in our vegetable gardens are also food, but you do shoot a lot of your gardening. I always think of you as the tomato lady, because I know you love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, a good descriptor actually actually so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think that was probably a pretty natural progression for you to start to start photographing what you were growing as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, Because it was a big part of my life too, and when I moved over here, I mean, I had a garden, you know my parents place. We would garden, um, and but it wasn't until I met my husband and then we started living together and he knew how much I loved vegetables. So he was like, well, we're gonna, we're gonna start a garden back here. And we did, and I was still sort of just kind of, once I got back into this swing of food blogging and taking it more seriously, I realized I have this whole wonderful opportunity to share, you know, what I'm growing alongside what I'm cooking and baking, yes, baking, yes. So, and I and I really did I do really enjoy photographing produce, again, I think, because it's a still subject, it doesn't move very much.
Speaker 2:But I also love, like green hues uh, I think, for a lot of, for all of us are very calming and I found it, I just find it very soothing to also be outside and taking photographs of food in its now natural state, so to speak.
Speaker 2:I guess I really enjoy doing that as well, and I just find food can be. Our vegetables and produce are so photogenic, I find them so photogenic and I don't have to. I think what it is too is because when I'm working with food I'm very strategic about, you know, this lettuce leaf here and this little drop of dressing here and what have you. But with tomatoes on a vine they just are, and so I can just take my camera out there and I just take photos and it. I don't want to say it's like easy, but it has a little bit more of like this, this like calm, sort of just gentle flow to it. You know where I don't have to think too much about before I press the shutter right mother nature just seems to know how to make beautiful color palettes and how things should hang and how things should flower, and we don't have to improve upon what she does, we just need to capture it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely that's. That's exactly right. I don't have to improve upon what I'm seeing. It's just that is it and it's beautiful. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:You have a very specific style and I feel like when I see a photo, I can tell immediately that that's a Heidi Richter photo, and for those of you who are not familiar with Heidi's work, you should definitely go check it out on Instagram or on her blog. It's very moody. You love the dark and moody, but at the same time it's very vibrant. There's a lot of color.
Speaker 1:To me, growing up here and you grew up here too it has a very Pacific Northwest flavor to it. It just feels like the west coast and you have this way of playing with light, so that your images are both dark and light at the same time. And it's and I know that's not easy to capture what, like what I'm not even sure how to ask the question, but but like what kind of? Led you to to discover, like, how do you blah? I'm not, I'm not even being particular, but it's. It's like this interplay of light and dark that seems to come very naturally to you as it is. Does it come naturally to you or is it something that you seek out?
Speaker 2:I would say so that's a thank you. By the way, I think when it comes, I do find a lot of beauty in like moody days, maybe not like this. Last winter I was like, okay, this winter needs to be done, I want it to be summer. So bad, this is the first year. I was like I'm done with clouds.
Speaker 1:I'm done with over time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but um, for you know, for the first little while I just relished in an overcast day and I know every photographer probably feels the same way that. You know that nice diffused sunlight coming in through the window or in the garden space is just idyllic for capturing, you know, the perfect amount of highlight and the perfect amount of shadow, and so I do tend to seek that out. You know, if I do have a nice cloudy day, I will go out with my camera and take photos. Unless it's, you know, a sunny day, then I'll go at a golden hour, you know, shoot away. But I think for me I've also really enjoyed. There's something about the Pacific Northwest, the history of the Pacific Northwest, that I just really enjoy and I don't think that you can, like I find a sense of magic in it.
Speaker 2:I don't know, how to describe it. But so, like living here, I feel like it's easy to capture that because we live in the Pacific Northwest and we have nothing but Pacific Northwest weather. So it's, it's, it's easy. I don't have to do a lot to sort of make that happen. But and that's that's not to say that there isn't, you know, a way to capture the, the brightness of the Pacific Northwest as well. But I do really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love the, the moodiness of an Orcas day, and when I'm editing so a lot of you know, what comes out of my camera might look quite, quite different to, you know, a final image that I may post on my blog or post on social media, and a lot of that does have to do with the editing as well. So I tend to shoot at like a lower. This is a little bit technical, but I do tend to shoot a little bit underexposed. So then, when I'm working with the editing software, I can then sort of enhance the blacks and the shadows, but yet also bump up my highlights and my whites without it becoming overblown, like where the whites are all blown out. So so there's a little bit of strategy in how I create those images, of course, but but in you know, overall it's just living here.
Speaker 2:I, I, I'm, I'm happy that you get that vibe from my photo. So and and sometimes I do wonder, is it just because it is where I live, or is it something more strategic than I'm doing? But I think it is just a combination of those it's I'm sure it's a combination.
Speaker 1:I there is something about living here that it seeps into your being, in the same way that I'm sure that, um, yeah, that's you know golden field against a dark sky seeps into the being of somebody from the prairies, and things like that so they living on the island too, I think I can.
Speaker 2:I really do feel more encapsulated in that sort of Pacific Northwest atmosphere and because of there's so much more, it's just maybe a little bit more rugged, I guess. No definitely Like when I was living in Vancouver.
Speaker 1:Definitely Vancouver's kind of got the shelter of the island. So we don't, yes, feel that wildness in the same way that you do on Vancouver Island and and you know if you're on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It's very wild, um yeah, at times. So it's uh. I do feel like it becomes part of your DNA at some point.
Speaker 2:I was gonna say, though, like living, like having. I was younger, we used to come to the island for holidays, and I remember those times being so magical as well. So I think being here and finding that that inspiration is just something that I, or finding that, you know, pacific Northwest flair is something that I really do want to to evoke with my images, because I do find, like I said it before, I do find it like a very sort of magical atmosphere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a very rugged, wild feeling and I always feel most at home when I'm on the west side of the island. I try to go to the west side for storm season whenever I can, because there's just something about it that I find incredibly peaceful and relaxing, even though it's incredibly wild when you're there at that time of year. To me it's calming. I don't know how to explain it, except that's just how it feels to me. Yeah, yeah, you. I love talking about the development of style and things, because it's so unique to everybody. But how do you push your boundaries when it comes to developing that style? Because you do have a unique style. What is it that makes you kind of push yourself creatively to get yourself to a new level?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, when I was first starting out in photography and I knew what I wanted to capture, I knew the style that I wanted to capture, I knew the style that I wanted to capture and it it took a long time and it did take a lot of, um, you know, testing things out and it wasn't I think it it wasn't until I found the right shooting space in my home that I, kind of like, was able to to really hone in on that style, able to to really hone in on that style. But, that being said, working as a food photographer, I'm not I can't just rely on one particular style, uh, with with the work I do. So, while for my personal endeavors you know, be it my blog or my social media, that that works and I can maintain that media, that that works and I can maintain that. But you know there are lots of different clients that I've worked with that also like to see other types of work as well. And it's funny you say that, because for me, being a a more shadowy type of shooter, I find it very challenging to go bright, very challenging, and so that's where I have to push my boundaries and that's where I have to to work hard to find something that I'm not very comfortable with.
Speaker 2:Like, I will be honest. I'll be completely honest and transparent. Shooting bright things is very intimidating for me, so I have to. I still do a lot of trial and error with that. I kind of worked away, you know, in my shooting space where I can get that vibe and and it can, you know, I can translate it well. So a client image is sort of what they're looking for, but I do find, find it, and I should actually mention too, because people might be like well, why don't you just use artificial light? I don't use an artificial light, so I don't see you. No, I don't, you're 100% natural.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, I just use natural light and um, but that also is another thing that I have been keen to learn. So that is. The next thing on my list is to actually really work on artificial light, because now, having two kids, my time is even more constrained. So when I have to work, you know, if I'm working with natural light, I'm only working within a certain number of hours during the day, and if that's the winter, that's even less hours. So you know, being a mom of two, it's there has to be.
Speaker 2:I have to push my boundaries. I have to find a way to create the light I want, if the, even if the time is not right or the weather is not right, even if the time is not right or the weather is not right. So that's actually something that I am starting to do is to look at pursuing artificial light as well. And being in this industry, you really do have to stay up with, you know, with all. You know the latest things, yeah. So I can't just rely on you know one way of doing things, because it's really going to limit my reach and my potential for, you know, future clients. So I have to force myself to do new things all the time. I am a big creature of habit and it doesn't come naturally, so it's easy to literally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, to get into that rut where you're comfortable, where you know you can deliver the image because you're comfortable, yeah, it's, it's. I think all creative I don't think it's just photography I think all of us as creatives fall into that, that, that rut. And so and that's something we haven't really mentioned We've talked about you as a blogger. Your blog is the Simple Green and it was a Taste Canada Award nominee blog, but you actually do a lot of editorial and commercial work which we should talk about now. Yeah, so I'm going to guess, just based on what we've talked about so far today, that the commercial and the editorial, the freelance work came out of your blog. Like, is that what led? Yeah, so that's what led you to getting that kind of work? So you know, we always try to combine the business of being a working creative with the creative side on the show, so maybe we could dive into that a little bit in terms of the editorial and commercial work that you do and some of the places where you may have seen Heidi's work?
Speaker 1:you shoot regularly for Edible Vancouver Island, and you've done some other work for other edible magazines across North America. Do you actively pitch yourself to get work or does it come to you?
Speaker 2:So I'm one of the lucky ones. Well, I shouldn't say that Basically, to date, all of the work that I have had has come through somebody finding me on social media somebody referring me to someone else or, like so, previous clients, I should say referring me or or through my online portfolio. That's how people find me and for some reason, my portfolio lately has been really keeping me active. I get lots of requests for quotes now, which is great. I know I must. I must have done something right with the SEO on my, my portfolio site. A lot of I have not had to actively pitch, although I have done that for you know, if I want to do like sponsored work with my blog, there's been a couple of people that I have pitched and some of them I've gotten, some of them I haven't.
Speaker 2:But a lot of the work that I had had over the years has come from social like. My social media presence has been huge, a huge factor in that, and as much as I love what social media, and particularly Instagram, has done for me and provided for me, I also I think there was a time where I relied on it too much and sort of neglected my blog in a way and and looking, you know, to like, like, add revenue and things like that, you know, creating more content there. It's something that has just sort of come to me and I've I've managed to to get a bit of work just through people finding me on social media and big brands who that have found me and said, hey, you know, like Vitamix, for example, found me initially, I think it was 2017. They found me through my work on Instagram. I think I tagged them in one post, not because I wanted to be like hey, vitamix, you know, just because it was what you do right Everybody tags yes, it is what you do, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they I guess they had seen it and yeah had contacted me, and then I worked for them for about two years pretty much full time. It was a contract job but it was pretty much that just consumed a lot of my time for that for those two years. And then I just kind of got other clients that just yeah, they just found me and decided we want you to work for us and can you do this A lot of people.
Speaker 1:they want to be a photographer, they want to be a painter, they want to be a writer or whatever it may be, and they're good. They're good at what they do, but they get really stuck on how to get paid to do what they love to do and what they're good at. And so, while you might not be pitching directly, you're still putting your work out there to be seen. You wouldn't be getting these contracts and freelance opportunities if your work wasn't out there, and I think this is something that I don't know. We don't learn this stuff in school, right? So it's one of those things where, if you're new to this, it can be very overwhelming to figure out how do I get seen, and so it can be very overwhelming to figure out, like, how, how do I get seen? And so was that something.
Speaker 1:I mean blogging, and we've done an episode on this everyone, if you're, if you're listening it wasn't too long ago about how blogging can be amazing for your SEO as a, as a freelance creative, because it is. It's everything that the search engines looks for. It's consistent content, it's using keywords, it's all the things that can get you out there. But you're also you're using social media. Do you have like a strategy, Like do you think about it on a regular basis? Like I need to get something out there, I need to show.
Speaker 1:I'm still active.
Speaker 2:So I not in the last little while. No, like I'm completely honest. No, it's kind of fallen to the wayside a bit, um, but that's like we can maybe talk about that. You know why I haven't really been doing a lot of that. Um, maybe a little bit later, but, um, basically the um, this was all sort of like pre-pandemic time too.
Speaker 2:Like I spent a lot of time actively, um, putting my work out there. So I was posting on Instagram very regularly. I made sure to show up on you know Instagram stories to share parts of my life or share behind the scenes of what I'm doing. You know, know on a shoot, or you know, just like what's growing in my garden, kind of thing, yeah, like the new. And then promoting what the work I'm doing on my blog through social media as well, and and then working with you know SEO and things like that. So, so there was a lot of strategy, definitely to try to get my work out there and then developing my, my online portfolio, uh, which in previous years I had it just as a page on my blog, which really wasn't. I mean, it worked for a little bit, but it wasn't until I sort of moved it to its own separate uh, so to its own separate, uh, so to its own separate site. That it. I found that it's been way more helpful for me, and so so, yeah, I think you're right, it's so.
Speaker 2:I'm not maybe actively pitching, but I am sort of passively pitching, I guess that's that's maybe a good way to put it, yeah, so and then I do like, if I'm out and about, um I I won't hesitate to mention to somebody hey, you know, I do do food photography. So you know like, for example, you know small cafes or or what have you, and just letting them know, like just kind of put their the bug in their ear, and then if they, you know, want to talk more about it or contact me, then great, how do you?
Speaker 1:do that.
Speaker 2:Because I think that is so intimidating for a lot of people to just I think it is very intimidating. But I'm not intimidated by it anymore Because I think I've sort of come to a place where I'm a little bit more confident in what I do and I also had spent quite a few years working as an account manager in the health industry, so it was basically like I was working in sales to a point. It wasn't like I didn't do cold calling, like I just managed accounts, so I would constantly be working with all clients, or I should say stores, for example, that were like already working with all you know clients, or, um, or I should say stores, for example, that were like already working with us and so I was like pitching, you know, if there was like new products and things like that. Um, but yeah, I just, I I guess I just I'm not really intimidated by it anymore and I think now in particular because we're sort of coming into this like age of like AI and I know that that's gonna, you know, kind of shake up the photography world and I don't know exactly how it's going to shake it up, but I'm sure it's, it's going to, and so I want to make sure that I still have, uh, you know, a viable career with photography.
Speaker 2:So I want to let people know, hey, I'm local here. So if you don't want to resort to doing things, you know, like the ai way or whatever, like just here's, here's my contact information or here's my portfolio, and you know, if you want we can talk about it, right. So I, I think I've just sort of had to force myself to not be afraid to do that, even though, like, there are still times, in all honesty, where I feel like I have imposter syndrome, where I'm like I can't believe I'm doing this. Like what, what are you doing? Like who do you think you are? Kind of thing. You know, I still really do get like that, but at the same time, I, you know, scale it back and remember okay, this is, this is what I do for work, this is what I want to do for work. And if I want to do this, I need to, I need to sort of stay active and I need to let people know no-transcript use them.
Speaker 1:And she was like what? But that's what she did and that's how she got her first, her first um illustrations published in the newspaper, and, and I think so many of us are. So just find the idea of doing that either terrifying or, as you said, like what do you mean? Like who am I to go up there and presume that I'm good enough to have my work in the paper or to be hired by these people? And yet it is those personal connections, that and those personal relationships that help you forge a long-lasting career.
Speaker 1:I think that's that's my personal feeling is for sure, for sure that, yeah, yeah, um, you have also been a nikon ambassador and, um, for those of you out there in who are not photographers, this is something that Nikon and Canon both kind of do, where they have like these sort of year long ambassadorships where they work with four or five people. I would say I'm not as familiar with Nikon as I am with Canon, but you know, those are, generally speaking, very coveted positions and I can't remember what year you did it and I I it feels like it was last year, but I think it was probably the year before I think it was 2020 or 2021.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's even further than I yeah.
Speaker 2:I think, cause my little guy was still quite young, I do remember doing quite like when I was working for them or doing work with them, I still had him in a carrier, so I would be doing work and he would be like on my back, you know, carrying him around. So I think it was about 2020.
Speaker 1:How, did that come about? That you, that they approached you and and offered you one of these spots so you want to talk about like imposter syndrome?
Speaker 2:that was like the height of my imposter syndrome. Okay, I um, I was. They had actually found me through social media and I'm not sure exactly how, but they had found my work and they wanted to work with me. And I remember the day I got the email, I was sitting on the couch and I just like went up and I was like, oh, what's this? Okay, so. And so from like I'm like what, okay, whatever. I thought it was just like some you know damn thing or you know, join our affiliate program, not that they would do that, but I just didn't, didn't really think anything.
Speaker 1:And then I read that I was like no way Everyone I know who's had some huge opportunity come their way has has initially thought that the email was spam. It's hilarious.
Speaker 2:I did. I looked and I looked at it. I it, I was like, okay, and then I think I didn't really, it didn't really hit me that it was. This is Nikon Canada communicating with me. I it didn't really sink in until like later that day I told my husband I'm like look at this email that I got, like like can you what you know? And, um, yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:It was really, really surreal. It was very similar to the time when I started working with Vitamix, because I was so new. Like I just felt like and again too, like I was like are you sure you've got the right person? Like I don't, do you really want to hire? Like are you sure about this? Uh, and I still get that sometimes, though but yeah, that was a really that was such an amazing opportunity, and I remember at the time they were just started. They had started launching their mirrorless line. So that's what this was about. You know they wanted to have, you know, photographers and online creators, you know, using their mirrorless technology and falling in love with it, which I did Like it's fantastic.
Speaker 1:It's fantastic, yes, oh my gosh mirrorless camera.
Speaker 2:It was about a year that I had worked with them and I shared a bunch of behind the scenes, you know, like how I shoot certain things, and then I ended up doing I think it was the following year, it might have been 2022, 2023. I can't remember now I had done they had asked me to do an online presentation on food photography. So this was still sort of during, you know, sort of the tail end of the pandemic, but Nikon had started this series called stay inspired. So they wanted to, you know, use or have photographers talk online to their, you know, community about you know, different topics, and they had asked me to to speak about food photography and and so I put together it was actually quite a lengthy presentation and did that for them online and it was definitely one of the highlights of my career to date.
Speaker 2:I hope I have other highlights coming down the road, but that was a really, that was really really special and it actually came at a time when I had been going through creative burnout because I was, you know, I had been this was when I had just one kid and I I really did throw my myself into my work. I loved doing it and but of course, I also loved being a mom and I wanted to be a hundred percent a mother and I wanted to a hundred percent be successful in my photography career and my blogging career and and it took a toll. You know, to make a long story quite short, I'm just going to give you the cliff notes version. But I did suffer from very creative burnout and when I got that Nikon email, um, I had really scaled back what I was doing and of course it was, you know, the pandemic time and and I had had my second son, so I wasn't really I kind of lost a bit of motivation to to create and, um, and then when I got that email, it just it was like, you know, like a, like a fire got lit under my butt again, right, like I was like, oh my gosh, like for real, like maybe I, maybe this is really what I should be doing on, and you know, um, because I had a bunch of doubts too right, like, yeah, going through creative burnout is very difficult.
Speaker 2:It was, yes, very difficult, and I'm still feeling the effects of it now, um, I can say that I'm probably, you know, starting to come out of it a little bit more and sort of finding my love for photography and creating in a way that's not just solely business oriented, that's not just for getting for earning cash. Yeah, you know, it's and and that's been very healing for me. So similar to like what I went through in my 20s, like rediscovering that, the healing power of like being creative, um, just for its own sake.
Speaker 1:Yes, so uh but yeah, then the.
Speaker 2:Nikon thing was really um. I almost looked at it as not to sound very woo-woo, but it was a little bit like the universe saying, okay, come on, yeah, pick yourself up, let's, let's go, come on, you can do this. This is what you know in your heart you want to do, and so here you go, right like it was. Yeah, it was um, it was really wonderful so, and I feel super, super lucky that I got to to have that experience with them.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it's a very, very cool thing. Um, yeah, I remember when I saw you announce that you were, we're going to be doing this, I was like wow, that's, that's incredible, like way to go.
Speaker 2:I know I still, still sometimes I'm like how did that even happen, like what it was meant to happen?
Speaker 1:and you certainly, you certainly have the chops to, to, to have deserved it. So you also. You alluded to the fact that you're you're a mom to two young boys and that is a lot of work. How do you manage being a mom and a creative and a business owner, and manage being a mom and a creative and a business owner and, um, you know like you mentioned, you've struggled with burnout.
Speaker 2:Do you manage it or do you feel do I manage it does not happen? That's a really good question. You should ask my husband how well I'm doing now. No, I'm kidding I, you know, I it is a lot. Um, and my, my boys were never in daycare, so it was just me home with them. Right, I was also still working part-time in strata management as well. So, you know, it was like an office job. Right, I was still doing that part-time. But when things really started taking off with my blog and photography, I ended up, you know, leaving that position behind. So I did have more time to just focus solely on. You know, with the free time that I did have and could carve out, I was, you know, creating and shooting and blogging away, shooting and and um, and blogging away and but, but at the same time, it's it's also really it is really challenging with with two young kids because, um, like I mentioned before, I'm if I'm going to do something, I don't want to just do it, you know, mediocre.
Speaker 2:So, with my, my kids. Um, I sort of have to. I've had to learn to like not have mom guilt, because it's so damaging and and so I yeah, I had to to really work at and not not letting myself go down that path of like, oh my gosh, I'm not being a good enough mom now because I have to work or I have to put in all these other hours to do this. But while being a mother is important, one of the things that I've really learned, taken to heart, is that I still have to look out for me too, because in order to be the best mom for my kids, I have to be the best version of myself, which means I have to honor my creativity. I have to honor the things that you know bring me joy outside of my family.
Speaker 1:I have to maintain my sense of individuality outside of just yeah, you have to be being a mom exactly like I was Heidi.
Speaker 2:I was Heidi for like 33 years before I was Heidi, who was also a mom, you know so, and and that was it's, it's, it is, it's, it was life altering and uh, you know, kids are like that.
Speaker 2:Um, but yeah, to be the best mom for my kids, I still have to to be who I am and to honor what I know to be true for myself and um, so that it's, that's sort of how I manage it.
Speaker 2:I'm better at managing it now, um, whereas, like, I think, initially it was very, it was difficult and I did have a lot of times where I felt I felt bad that I had to work on a weekend because, you know, my husband and I, my son, we wanted to go, they wanted to go do this thing or whatever, and I couldn't always come because I had to work. And I've come to a better place now, where I've got a little bit more of a balance and I'm much more aware of my own limitations too. So now that I have two kids, I can't just take on all the work I want. I really do have to be mindful about my family life and not pushing myself to another point of possible burnout because I can't afford to do that again. I don't want to do that again because it's not a fun place to be.
Speaker 1:It's not a fun place to be and you make a really good point fun place to be. So it's not a fun place to be, and you make a really good point. And I I went through a very bad case of burnout in 2014, 15. And, uh, when you create for a living, as opposed to creating for enjoyment or a hobby, burnout is not an option. You know it. It it directly impacts your ability to earn, not to mention all the other things it impacts. But it really drove home to me and I'm guessing it probably did for you, like how important it is for me to manage my mental health and my physical health and all those things that get entwined with creative burnout, because it was. It was over a year where I was just not functioning yeah, you know and and not able to do good work, and it can have a very damaging impact on your career if if you don't learn how to get a handle on it and absolutely prevent it yeah so yeah it was.
Speaker 2:It was a really tricky time for me, you know, when I, when I I mean, I'm only just sort of really coming out of that time now it takes a while, and it takes a while you know, there were times where I all good to go. I'm great back at it and I threw myself into it again and then I realized I'm like, oh my gosh, I am not through the woods yet. So yeah, recognizing where my boundaries are, what my limits are.
Speaker 2:Now and I think I'm still really really learning. Still I'm like still walking a bit on ice, you know, because I know, I know that I have these boundaries, but really being able to to honor them and and know my limits and know when to say no and to trust that it's okay to say no because I would want to take on everything and I would take on everything, and then I would find myself sort of like scrambling and, oh, stressed out, and then, you know, I might, you know, miss out on opportunities with my family because I'm, you know, no, I've got to do this, I'm doing, you know, and that's that's not where I want to be working from, Especially now with two kids. It's not a place where I can be working from.
Speaker 1:So I feel like that's something that comes a little bit with age too, I think. When we're starting out or we're young, we, we always worry that the last opportunity will be the last opportunity.
Speaker 1:And it takes a while to kind of trust the universe that it's never the last opportunity. More opportunities will come and it can be very, very nerve wracking when you're young or when you're starting out and you haven't done this before, and especially if money is a factor. Yeah, Trust that. If you say no to this, it's okay because something else will come along. It just it always does. It just seems to. Sometimes it takes a little longer than you want it to, but it will be there.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I have had to. You know, over the last year there have been a couple of clients that I did have to say no to, and it was hard. I was like gosh, this is such a good opportunity. I would love, so love, to do this, but I knew where, where I, where I was and how I was feeling, and I'm like I just can't, as much as this opportunity would be great. I can't afford to sacrifice my health or, you know, getting back to a good place within myself. I can't sacrifice that for this opportunity, and and so I have to really trust in that abundance mindset, I guess, is the best way to put it.
Speaker 2:So, like, knowing that, like and I think this really speaks to creativity too, because creativity, there is such an aspect of abundance to it.
Speaker 2:Like you know, there is inspiration all around us, you know, and and working in a creative field, I think you, you have to to have a a little bit of trust in that.
Speaker 2:You know that.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, so maybe I did have to say no to this one experience, um, but knowing that, like creativity, it's always going to be there and it's always going to come back, and so long as I can stay in this sort of like not homeostasis, but, you know, maybe a better sense of like sustainable, you know, um, sustainable, like harmony, I guess, is a better way to put it maybe, um, if I can sort of maintain you know, not maintain, but like work from a place of that, then then I'm going to feel so much more fulfilled with what I'm doing too, and I'm not going to be, you know, stressed out and um, and I, I feel like that would create better work as well.
Speaker 2:So, if I'm not running around, you know, you know, with with energy that I probably don't have, you know, you know, you know, with with energy that I probably don't have, you know, then I'm going to be able to put, um, I'm going to be able to have more energy to put into something that I'm really proud of. You know, if I can just honor my, my limitations and and, uh, it's hard though, it's very, very hard it is and I feel like no matter how many people you know, how many people tell you to, I feel like burnout is something.
Speaker 1:This is going to sound terrible. I'm sorry, but I feel like burnout is something we all kind of have to go to go through to understand all of the things we've just been talking about. Like people can tell you over and over again to be careful you're burning yourself out to. You know this is how you avoid burnout and things. But it's not until we actually go through it that we kind of realize what they were talking about. It's like it's almost like you have to learn it by by going through it in a way.
Speaker 1:I think that's truly part of it, and I think sometimes, even the first go around with burnout, we ignore it because we kind of, or we were able to take a few weeks off and kind of come back from it, and we, we, um, we think, ah, I'm better, right, but your habits don't change and your boundaries don't change, and so it works for a few months, but then it starts to creep back in and yeah, and it happens slowly, like it just happens slowly over time, and and so it's like a snowball effect, so, and then it'll, and then it'll just take.
Speaker 2:You know, one thing like for, you know, when my dad got sick, that just pushed me over the edge, right. And then you know, this other time, like it was for me, I think what really triggered it was, you know, I had my second, my second child, so I was already tired from that. And then throw on top of that a pandemic. Oh, how much fun is that, right, throw a pandemic on top of that. And then, you know so, thinking that I could just, you know, work through all that and at my regular pace, was just like it was. I don't want to sound like I'm being mean to myself, but it was kind of stupid, you know. So, um, and, and I knew it deep down, I'm like I can't do this, but I did keep pushing myself, and then it led to this. Yeah, I had to learn it the hard way yeah, that's basically what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1:I had to learn it the hard way and I think the pandemic, so many of us were just trying to maintain normalcy when it wasn't a normal situation and I think trying to force it to be normal, it made things even worse for a lot of people. So, um, yeah, I think I think too, for those listening, you know boundaries and things like that. Those can also change as as we grow and as we enter into different seasons of our life. So you know it's, it's, it's okay to to to change your boundaries if they're not working for you, and I think that takes a little bit of experience to kind of come to terms with as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe in a couple of years from now or whenever I might find myself with more time and energy where I can maybe get back to taking on more client work, and I'm totally not opposed to that happening but just not right now, Exactly so you know life is is about seasons, right, and sometimes you're you know when you're in that season of having two young children, that's that's a very different season from when those kids are in high school or university, or you know, things change and your time changes as well. Yeah, so on that note, what is next for you? Are you working on anything interesting right now or you got something, a creative itch you want to scratch?
Speaker 2:Yes, actually I do so. Back when I first started blogging in 2015, I had also started up a YouTube channel, so I was doing video recipes and I really loved creating videos and, of course, now we're in this whole social media age of reels. I really loved creating videos. Of course, now we're in this whole social media age of reels and short form videos. While I haven't really been able to put a lot of effort into doing that over the last few years, that is something that I know is brewing.
Speaker 2:It's just sitting there. It's one of those things where I have to to like again. I know I want to push myself to do it, but I do want to pursue that again because we are now in an age where, you know, still images are still wonderful and they have their value for sure. Um, you know, video is becoming so much more popular and plus to you know, we've we've got this sort of ai coming down the pipeline and I feel that being able to be a human with your work, you know, know showing the humanity of you know your creativity, you know just being present with it and say, hey, this is me um is really going to be integral um in the coming years.
Speaker 1:So it's something very vigorous.
Speaker 2:I really, yeah, I. I know that it's something that I would love to do again, and right now, I think what's going on in my brain is sort of formulating how I want to do that. You know whether I want to. You know, because there was a. It's funny, I used to actually do a lot of theater acting, but I really don't like putting my face in front of the camera, so I it's very intimidating for me.
Speaker 2:So I have to sort of find a way to work with that and and make it work for me in a way that's also going to be sustainable. I mean, I know I'm going to need to experiment and try new things, um, and figure out what's really going to work. But just being comfortable, uh, getting my face out there again, is, um, it's sort of the next step for me. So that's very cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it is really cool, but of course it's hard too, because I'm kind of in, I'm, you know, I just I hit my, my 40s and I'm also facing the fact that, like, oh wow, like, over the last four years I think I've aged quite a bit, like I don't look like me anymore sometimes. So it's you know, I think I'm sort of dealing with other things too, or, um, I can be. I'm trying not to be hard on myself, as is it it happens to all of us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but um no, I I swear. In the mastermind group that I'm in, I think we talk about video every single week and about how important it's going to be and how we're going to embrace it and things.
Speaker 2:I do find it interesting, though, that while I was so comfortable doing that so comfortable, you know, performing a role on stage I could be so shy and insecure about my face on video on YouTube, Like it's funny.
Speaker 2:So it is really funny and maybe, maybe it has to do with you know that, the fact that I mean you'd think that doing something live would be more intimidating because you can't just press pause and rerecord Right. But, um, I think when you do it live you don't just press pause and rerecord right yeah, but um, I think when you do it live, you don't see yourself.
Speaker 1:You're just in the moment right when it's on video.
Speaker 2:Somebody plays it back and you get to see it and you're like oh yeah and you know that they could they could, yeah, pause it at this one, like, oh, look like, right there, she's got a zit on her face.
Speaker 1:You see that right like pick me apart on pause right and your eyelids or your eyes are rolled back into your head or something.
Speaker 2:But people don't do that Like I don't do that to people, so why would I think people would do that to me?
Speaker 1:I don't know, because we're irrational, illogical human beings sometimes. Well, heidi, it has been such a pleasure to have you on the show this week.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for being here. Thank you, yeah, this is. It's been great being able to finally chat with you. Yeah, it's been share some of my story and I learned a lot about you today.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, if people want to find you online, where should they go?
Speaker 2:So you can find me on social media. I'm at the simple green the simple dot green and you can also find me on through my website, either my portfolio, which is Heidi E Richtercom, or if you just search the simple green on google, you'll find my my blog there as well. So I'm kind of all over the internet not really now, but you can find me. Just search my name or, yeah, just search for the simple green and you'll find me.
Speaker 1:so we'll put links to everything in the show notes as well, so if you are looking to find heidi and check out some of her beautiful photography and her delicious recipes, you can just click through to the show notes and we'll have all the links for you there. So that is it for this week. Everyone, thank you for being here, and this is just a reminder that our next episode will actually be the season finale for season five, before we go on break for our summer hiatus, and Heather Travis will, of course, be back for that episode, as she is with every season finale. So, yes, heidi, thank you so much. It has been great to have you here and look forward to seeing what you do next.
Speaker 2:Look forward to seeing your video and look forward to seeing what you do next.
Speaker 1:Look forward to seeing your video. Yeah, you too. Thanks, melissa, thanks everybody, and we will talk to you all in two weeks. Thank you so much for joining us for the Anshi Looked Up Creative Hour. If you're looking for links or resources mentioned in this episode, you can find detailed show notes on our website at andshelookedupcom. While you're there, be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more business tips, profiles of inspiring Canadian creative women and so much more. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to the show via your podcast app of choice so you never miss an episode. We always love to hear from you, so we'd love it if you'd leave us a review through iTunes or Apple Podcasts. Drop us a note via our website at andshelookedupcom, or come say hi on Instagram at andshelookedup. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.