About 5 months ago, I was sitting in Vegas in our hotel room about to head out to breakfast with Luke during WPPI, the annual conference for wedding and portrait photographers. I was scrolling through Instagram and immediately felt a weight on my shoulders.  Looking down at my Aggie t-shirt, blue jeans, and Nike Frees, I felt like an outcast amongst the cliques, the fancy outfits, and the cool kids club.

This reminded me of the very first time we went to WPPI, many years earlier. When we stepped off the elevators, everyone in the lobby would turn and look to see if it was someone worth talking to, and if they weren't (I'll give you a hint - we weren't) they went back to talking to each other.

This is a feeling that I thought would go away, but 5 years later, it hurt, just the same.

In that moment, I knew that I wanted something different for us.

For some, speaking at WPPI or having dinners and toasts with a superstar posse is the brass ring. And that's not to say those things aren't fantastic, fun, or something to be proud of. But... here's the deal: I want more. Not just for myself, but for our industry.

Our industry deserves leaders that are genuinely passionate about helping others build great businesses, take better photos, or get the confidence they need to have the life they want. Because let's face it - our businesses all exist so that we can have the life that we want. We've seen some who seem more passionate about Instagram followers and notoriety, and that saddens us. We believe our industry deserves better. 

We came home fired up. Our own business coach had us write 20 ways OUR workshop would be different than the norm.

We wrote things that were raw and unfiltered, like "1) We will not act like we are perfect" or "3) We will come from a genuine place of loving photography and loving our clients, not from a place of tricking people into spending money." 

We also wrote things that were elegant, like "7) We will have time for community and collaboration, sharing stories and meals, realizing we can all learn from each other."

For over a year we've been making plans and laying the groundwork for something big for photographers. We've been sharing great content on our blog, sending out newsletters about having the right mindset, and doing lots of one-on-one coaching calls helping people build the business to support the life they really want. 

And now, it's all come full circle.

We're so proud to debut an entire new way of 'being' that we know this industry needs. The culmination of years in this business and months of planning have led to this moment, and we're excited to share the new Life & Craft Workshop with you! Visit www.lifeandcraftworkshop.com to learn more!

Leaving Cliques Behind & Creating An Authentic Community,

Luke & Cat

We love to teach photographers how to hone technique, artistry and business acumen to create a life that improves your craft, and a business that supports your life. For a fast track to your authentic Life & Craft, check out more about our workshops we host on our cattle ranch in Texas.

If you like this post, be sure to sign up for our FREE Life & Craft Newsletter for photographers. You'll receive great content like this straight to your inbox every two weeks! 

We're so excited to share something we've been working on for several weeks! Today, we're unveiling a brand new, 3 part educational video series for photographers focused on building a business that supports the life that you truly want. The best part about this series? It's completely free! Click the link below to get access to the first video in the series, and keep an eye out for the next videos, which we'll be releasing soon!

Learning & Creating (Let's get after it!),

Luke & Cat

We talk a lot about cattle around here, but that’s Texas for you.  Our cattle are Brahman cows – soft grey coat, droopy ears, and that funny hump on their back, the breed was developed here in the United States from Indian cattle. They’re tropical cows at heart, making them extremely popular in many countries.  In fact, this year, our ranch has already sold cattle to Central America, South America, Australia, Asia and Africa where they will thrive in the warm, steamy climates of these parts of the world.

But when it comes to romance with the Brahmans, it’s less warm and steamy and more cold and clinical.  You see, everything about raising prized Brahman cows has to be timed. The little baby calves aren’t ready to survive even a Texan winter, so their mating season is carefully controlled by cattle ranchers. Baby Brahman calves are born, ideally, right at the beginning of spring, giving them the warm months of summer and fall to grow and become a bit hardier. Left to their own devices, cows and bulls, being cows and bulls, wouldn’t listen to the ranchers who know these things.  So, it’s up to us ranchers to take the proverbial bulls by the horns and help them time the mating process.  It may not be romantic, but it sets up both the cattle and the ranchers for the best possible outcomes. 

With wedding photography, timing matters too.  Some couples might feel that a carefully scheduled timeline removes the possibility of authentic romance and spontaneity from their wedding day, therefore, resisting the most essential tool that we photographers rely upon.  To that we reply…

“Even spontaneity has its time and its place.”
Arthur F. Burns

As you know, our style hinges on golden hour photos, warm and dripping in natural light. We can’t move the sun, and we can’t change the sky, but we can manage the timing.  For successful photos, we need to reserve that hour early on - before the pastor, the caterer, and the wedding party have made their schedules and demands. And for that to happen, we need to work with couples who are willing to make photography a scheduling priority.

While the bride’s in charge of a lot, it’s important to remember that she’s doing this once, and we’re doing it all the time. Like good ranchers, we insist on playing a hand in the timing of events—it’s not worth betting the farm that the cattle (or in our case, the couple we photograph) will instinctively know when they need to do what they need to do for optimal results.

The Takeaways: 

1. Establish and Insist Upon Trust:   Repeat after us: they’re doing this once (hopefully) and you do it dozens of times per year. You’re the expert on wedding timelines — you know what works, and you’ve seen couples make the same mistakes again and again.  Work with couples who are willing to learn from the pros and appreciate your advice. Be clear from the first inquiry that partnering with a couple on the timeline is an essential part of your service.  To emphasize this point, when we’re meeting with a new couple, we include a suggested wedding day timeline, based on their specific wedding day sunset time.  This customized touch not only shows that we’re paying close attention to the couple, it also shows that we know what we’re doing!
   
   
2. Saddle Up and Come Prepared:  Couples will be more willing to trust and hand over the reins if they can see what you mean. For us, it’s the Bride Guide — a 72-page booklet that shows potential clients that we’ve done the work, and literally written the book, on how this is done. Our guide sets a tone, answers questions and explains our approach, making the timeline conversation much easier when it does come up.
   
   
3. Communicate the Cost:  Help couples understand that they won’t get their wedding day back.  Full documentation by an experienced, responsible, skilled professional is the only way to ensure priceless images that will be cherished for generations. Sure, you could ask your Uncle Bob to snap some pictures, but will he be able to guarantee quality shots of those most important firsts?
   
   
4. Practice Practical Romance:  Tell your clients what your shot list includes (it’s what we do) or insist that your clients create one (give them an outline to make it easier).  Request a full list of vendors and communicate with the pros to be sure everyone is on the same page.  By making every effort to control the timeline, you’ll set yourself - and your couple - up for success.  And that sounds pretty romantic to us!

Looking Out For Our Clients & Communicating Along The Way,

Luke & Cat