DO. IT. NOW.

How many time's have you told yourself "I'll get to it later...." or "Later on when I have time, I'd like to...." ?
If you're anything like me, you probably do it A LOT. I always seem to find a ton of things I would love to do, but can never find the time to do them. You see, these things I really "want" to do always seem to get overshadowed by the things I "have" to do or "should" do...you feel me?
Why is it that the list of things we want to do is neverending, but the time to do them, goes unfound?
The answer is simple: That's how life is.
The time is just going to keep ticking away no matter how hard we fight it. That time you are searching for, is passing you by.
I see the pattern in myself allllll the time. The book I could't wait to get, still sitting there months later without a page turned...the old hobby I'm DEFINITELY gonna take up again once I get past wedding season...the good friend whom I haven't seen in ages, that I'm FOR SURE gonna hang out with after I get a few more things checked off my to-do list...
Excuses. Excuses. Excuses.
If it's not one thing, it's gonna be another. If I'm busy today, chances are I'll be busy tomorrow...and next week...and next year!!! Especially as I take on new opportunities, my life just gets busier and busier and busier....
So I challenge you to take today to commit a little time to that special thing you've been wanting to do. (Unless you're planning on waiting till retirement!)
Do it TODAY.
This post isn't meant to be some profound message or eye-opening statement. It's simply something we've all known from the start...today is as good a day as any :)

Well...it's kind of WAY off topic, but since I refuse to blog without a photo...I thought I'd share these photos I took of Rocko yesterday, in my great-grandmother's old wig. Poor poor Rocko. He looks like a cross between an elderly woman and a disco dancer. Enjoy! ;)

Keeping your eyes on the prize.

Yesterday, a friend, whom also happens to be a photographer, IM'ed me on Facebook with one of these.... :( When I asked her what was wrong...she told me that she was unhappy with her website, blog, whole brand, everything...and she wanted to re-do it all. I was baffled. She had literally JUST re-done her brand very recently and it looked great! I loved what she was doing with her business. And just a few weeks prior, she had been happy too. So where was all of this coming from???

And then I knew.

I asked her, "Be completely honest, does this have anything to do with other photographers you know making advances in their businesses lately?". She then admitted that yes, this was a large part of it. She saw how well her peers were doing and rather than celebrating with them and using this positive energy to build off of and improve her own self...she just felt left behind...

I COMPLETELY understand this feeling. I've been there more times than I care to say. And I still find myself there occasionally, when I let my guard down. Hearing about someone else's success...how booked up they are, while your own calendar is left un-marked, seeing their brand new website, mind-blowing photographs...and feeling like...why not me?

This conversation with my friend really got me thinking about this and how much I have improved in this area over time. I think it happened one day over the summer when I wasted an entire day looking at other photographer's blogs. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE looking at blogs. But this was different...and I had been doing it off and on for awhile. I wasn't checking in on a friend's blog to see what they've been up to. I was looking at everything in comparison to myself. Looking at blogs from photographers with YEARS of experience on me, making myself miserable thinking about how long it would take me to get as good as them. I wasted all of those precious hours, that I could have spent shooting, blogging, or just doing ANYTHING productive....agonizing over everything that I wasn't.

After that day, I took a break from paying attention to everyone else and brought my focus back 100% to where it belonged. ON MY OWN BUSINESS. Things changed then. My outlook was a million times more positive. I'm back to my regular blog-surfing now, but it's all in a different light. I don't look at what others are doing to compare it to my own progress. I look out of pure interest and admiration. I see people thriving all around me...my peers, my friends. And never once since my "blog-detox" have I felt left behind. Why? Because my dedication is to my own growth, not just sitting back and watching everyone elses. And truthfully...I like to believe that success is contagious ;)

So what I told my friend is.....Don't worry about them. Worry about you. Their success certainly was not bringing her down and she knew it. She actually was happy for them. The only thing that was getting her down was her attitude towards her own business. So my hope is that this very lovely friend of mine will take my advice and remember just what this whole thing is about. Moving forward at her own rate, even if it's in different ways and at a different pace than her peers. (Friend, you know who you are! And I happen to think you're doing amazing!)

So is it a competitive market? WELL DUH!! We all know it is. Even the best of friends are competing for clients when they're in the same industry, whether they believe it or not. But here's a little something to think about...when you first got started in the business...was your goal to give your utmost best to your clients, and produce photographs that they will forever cherish? Or was it just to compete with the other photographers around you and make sure you're always doing better? I'm assuming it was and still is, the first one. If your main priority is the second one and you're aware of it and okay with it...well then maybe you should re-think your direction/purpose in this industry! Ya feel me?

All I'm saying is....Success should not be relative. If you're doing good, you're doing good...no matter what everyone else is doing.

And uh...yeah, that's all! :)

Well since I refuse to blog without atleast one photo...I went digging through my hard drive for something to share and came across this. And it made me laugh! Shannon Morse snapped this at a wedding she was shooting with me over the summer. I was showing the little girl the picture I took of her, and I love her reaction! :)

Different Perspectives.

A few weeks ago, I came across an inevitable bump in the road. I'm finding that running a business independently is all about risks, gains, losses, failures, successes and a million other complete opposites. But really, no matter HOW MANY times you hear about life lessons and dealing with hard situations you can never fully understand until you deal with it first hand....
Several weeks ago, I found myself at a consultation with a bride and her mother. The bride was very young and her mom was there to oversee the booking and make the payment. Everything was going well, your average consultation....we talked about the wedding, life, the photography itself, and even had a few laughs. Nothing out of the ordinary. By the time I left, I had a signed contract and a $500 check for the retainer fee in hand, to reserve their day. The bride even followed up a few hours after, letting me know that she was so excited to have me locked in as her photographer. Things were lookin good!
So it's safe to say I was pretty surprised when I checked my phone later that night and found a missed call from an unfamiliar number and a pretty angry voicemail. It turned out to be from the bride's father, saying that himself and the groom were both "furious" about the cost of my services and that they weren't even getting an album. He said they wanted a refund, and we would need to get this "taken care of" within 24 hours. I sat in a daze, wondering if I had really just heard what I thought I had...how could something great turn bad in just mere hours??? I had no idea how to handle this situation.
The first thing I decided is that I would not call her father back. I would not discuss terms of the contract with someone who had no part in the booking. But the big question was how was I going to deal with their demand for a refund when the contract clearly stated that the retainer is NON-REFUNDABLE. Obviously I would keep it right? Cause I'm fully entitled to the money of course....I'll just tell them "Sorry, you already signed...either pay the rest or lose the money you already put down". Because it is MY money isn't it??? That's the obvious answer right????
Much to all of your surprise....and still to my own...I went the other route.... That money didn't feel like mine. That check sat heavy in my wallet, un-cashed. A name signed on it that already felt like it was no longer part of my plan. Just an ugly reminder of a fit that wasn't right....
I contacted the bride the next morning asking her to have her mother give me a call. Upon talking to her mother I let her know that I would return the money only because it was such quick notice and out of the kindness of my heart. I made sure she understood that I was giving her a refund she was not entitled to merely because I am a kind person and at this time, I felt it was the right thing to do.
We had a very brief meeting at the same place we had booked just the day before. I had her sign a cancellation form that I typed up specifically for this case, she returned the contract, and I returned the check. We drove away and it was done.
As soon as I put my car in drive, I already felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders. The slate was wiped clean....I had nothing left to attach me to this bad experience. But I certainly would not forget it. I knew something had to come from it....a learning experience.(and this super lengthy blogpost. ha!) But truthfully, I HATED the whole situation. I hated the roller coaster of emotions...excitement, fear, anger, rationality, remorse...I REALLY hated the insult I felt, listening to the voicemail from her father, making me question my worth...I also hated losing the bride, I really liked her and I know she had NOTHING to do with this whole situation, I feel bad that she got caught up in all of it(unnamed bride, if you are reading this...I hope you have a beautiful wedding day and please know I hold nothing against you!!!).
But from it all I learned a major unexpected lesson, something to do completely with being reasonable and open to diversity. That lesson is that we all look at the world from different angles and we must recognize that everyone has a different perspective. So maybe it was wrong of her parents to break the contract...and I certainly didn't appreciate the way they went about it, but I realized that her dad is certainly not WRONG for thinking my services weren't worth that amount of money. He just puts value on different things. And wouldn't it be more WRONG to expect every person in the world to value the same things? That would be no fun. I dealt with one bad situation...someone who would not spend what I charge. But in the 2 weeks prior to that, I booked 3 brides who were more than happy to pay those prices and see the worth in what I will give them. I also returned weddings discs to 2 previous brides who loved their images and I'm sure would spend the money all over again if they had the chance...
So I guess the lesson here is, don't take it personal. When you're so committed and closely tied in with your business....it's hard to separate it from yourself sometimes. But you've got to realize that things will happen and you've just gotta roll with the punches. If someone cuts down your prices or something of the sort, it doesn't say anything about YOUR worth, but rather, it speaks of THEIR own perspective. In short, clients are like boyfriends...you can't fully appreciate the right one until you've dealt with a couple of the wrong ones hahahaha.

"You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note"-Doug Floyd

P.S. SOOOOOOOOOO excited that my awesome sister snagged me a copy of this little gem below, for my birthday. (which is October 11th in case you didn't know, but i'm sure you've had it on your calendar all year right?!?! hahaha). I've heard amazing things about this book from other photographers and I'm already loving it after one chapter!

Tiffany McNutt: My very first intern!

Well...ever since I started getting heavily into photography and learning the technical side of it, I knew it would be something I would want to eventually teach others. Already almost 2 years into college to become a teacher, I kept thinking about how cool it would be to teach PHOTOGRAPHY rather than a boring subject I had no passion for. With budget cuts and teaching positions getting harder and harder to grab in most school districts around me, I didn't know how likely it would be to score a position like that...so I kept my education path pretty broad not really knowing what it was I would end up teaching...
After my internship with Sarah Barlow I knew without a doubt that taking on interns and hosting workshops is something I really wanted to do in the future....as in LATER...years from now..when I'm super skilled. NOT NOW. That's why I found myself shocked a few months later as I sat waiting for the arrival of a girl I had never met who was driving 2 hours to come learn from...yours truly.
I started talking to Tiffany earlier this year through Myspace. Being young, photographers both based out of Southern California was more than enough common ground to get us talking. When we first started speaking of her possibly coming to learn with me, I was super excited but also terribly nervous. I mean I know enough to run my business successfully, but that's just what works for ME, is it the only way, or even the right way? Probably not... I figured I would just give it my best shot and teach her the way I do things, completely understanding that she might tell me she learned NOTHING and that it was the WORST weekend of her life!!!!!!
Luckily, that's not how it happened. Me and Tiff hit it off right from the start and things went smooth from there. Tiffany is originally from Kansas, but now lives with her husband and son in 29 Palms where she runs Olive Juice Photography(the story behind the name is SO cute, you should totally ask her about it!). We spent the whole weekend, covering all aspects of her business and tackling her insecurities and I am proud to say that it all went well! While she was here, she tagged along on a family session, model session, and engagement session and the images she captured were phenomenal! I was beaming like a proud mother when she gushed about how much confidence she had gained and that she couldn't believe that she shot the pictures she was staring at on her screen.
From client interaction to post production, we covered it all. BUT, she wasn't expecting the curve ball I threw to her as our weekend was ending, which involved her stepping out in front of the camera! She looked at me like I told her to go jump off a bridge as I explained that to truly understand your client, you need to be in their shoes at least once, and SHE would be the next subject in front of my lens :) Despite her hesitation, she totally ROCKED the session...complete with my hair styling and last minute outfits pulled out of my closet. Besides the experience, she also got some new bio photos for her website!
It was quite a crazy weekend, especially when we stayed up till 2 am...on nights when we had a session at 7 am....jeeze. But it was nothing short of amazing! The best part is, she will be back in just a few weeks to second shoot a wedding with me!! Doing this, totally woke up my passion to teach others and gave me a much needed kick in the butt to improve some things in my own business that I was teaching everyone else but not necessarily practicing.
Here are some of the photos from Tiffany's bio photo session. Be sure to check out her BLOG to see how amazing she is doing!







And she said she couldn't model....pshhhh....


LOVE her tattoo of her son's name on her wrist...








Tiffany, It was fun! I'm glad I was able to help you out! See you in a few weeks :)

Growing Together.

Owning your own business. Well there's really nothing quite like it. It is probably one of the most rewarding/frustrating/time-consuming/fun/scary/adventurous things you can ever do(besides having children! and that's a whole different story!). I was just talking to a friend and fellow business owner about it and I explained to her my take on the business "climb" and it really got me thinking about my beliefs on helping others on their climb.
For me, starting and establishing my business has been exactly like climbing a ladder. When I first started I knew there would be a lot of steps, knew there would be struggles, knew it wasn't going to be easy, yeah, yeah, yeah...I knew it all. HA! The ladder I saw at the beginning of my career was more like a step stool compared to what the real business ladder turned out to be. So many expenses, projects, and steps I had never even thought about. OUCH.
The crazy thing is when you are on this ladder, making your way up, and you look around there are SOOOOO many people making the same climb you are. Some may be a few steps ahead, some a few steps behind, others are exactly where you are. Some will be lending a hand, trying to help you get to the top...others will be pulling at your ankles trying to bring you down. My goal is to ALWAYS be the one helping others up. For me there is nothing better than having friends in the same business who you support 100% and who do the same for you. With every person you help, that is one more person rooting for you to get to the top.
Where would I be without the other amazing photographers who have helped me in my climb?? Probably still over in the sidelines trying to conquer my step stool. Hahahaha....but really. I am so grateful for the help I have received and I would love to give just as much help back to anyone who needs it. It is so frustrating to find business owners who see everyone else as competitors and only wish success for themselves. How sad. Of course we are all competitors, but what a lot of people don't realize is there are millions of people getting married, tons of babies who need their first pictures done, hundreds of families looking for Christmas card photos. There's enough work for everyone(this goes for all businesses, not just photography!). And if you run a business that represents yourself(as you should be!!) then you are eventually going to attract the perfect client that wants to book you because of who YOU are and if the client is sold on who YOU are, then who else is going to be able to compete with that?! There's only one you!!
The moral to the story is....if someone needs help and looks to you for it, give them a hand. If you are helping other people get to the top of the ladder, that can only mean you are moving in the upward direction too. If you are constantly trying to knock other people down, you might just fall down with them. Think about it....what can be more rewarding than helping someone achieve success? Besides, if you are only helping contribute to other people's failures, then what does that make you?

So for all photographers...if you ever have any questions about anything or need any help, feel free to contact me at kristen@kristenbooth.net :)

I will close this post with a photo of the new little friend I made the other day :)