As we move into the new year, let’s make a plan for our equine photography futures! Let’s set some goals and break away from any old habits that might be holding us back. Let’s make room for new habits that will help us reach our dreams!

Transcript
Jaz:

It's time to laugh, learn and take your photography to the

Jaz:

next level with your favorite cowgirls with cameras, Kara,

Jaz:

Kim, and Phyllis.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Hey, photographers, it's Kim with Kim

Cara Taylor Swift:

Beer photography and Be More Business

Cara Taylor Swift:

and Cara with Fast Horse photography

Phyllis Burchett:

and Phyllis with Phyllis Burchette photo.

Phyllis Burchett:

Hey, guys,

Cara Taylor Swift:

how is everyone today? What have you

Cara Taylor Swift:

all been up to?

Cara Taylor Swift:

Well, we're post holiday now. So I think we're all in recovery,

Cara Taylor Swift:

it's time to cut back on the holiday sweets officially at my

Cara Taylor Swift:

household. And I've been throwing out chocolates and

Cara Taylor Swift:

goodies and making sure that those are disappeared from my

Cara Taylor Swift:

pantry. But the big thing that I'm excited about this week is

Cara Taylor Swift:

that we had an amazing holiday. So we were busy. It was all the

Cara Taylor Swift:

craziness of family and friends, which was lovely. It was

Cara Taylor Swift:

exhausting. But my son has been home from school for several

Cara Taylor Swift:

weeks. So I've been in terms of work. I've been working very

Cara Taylor Swift:

piecemeal very part time. And he went back to school this week.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So he was not thrilled he's had such a great time at home

Cara Taylor Swift:

because we've done all the fun things we've done like arcades,

Cara Taylor Swift:

and we've done bouncy places, and we played with cousins and

Cara Taylor Swift:

had playdates, it's been a lot of fun. But let me tell you,

Cara Taylor Swift:

Mama was ready for somebody to go back to school so that she

Cara Taylor Swift:

could get back to like a normal routine. So I started back

Cara Taylor Swift:

normal routine this week as of yesterday, and it feels good to

Cara Taylor Swift:

be in the office, but also a little overwhelming, because

Cara Taylor Swift:

I've had a lot of stuff kind of stacking up. So what about you

Cara Taylor Swift:

guys?

Phyllis Burchett:

Well, for me personally, I did very little

Phyllis Burchett:

business over the holidays. It was you had a lot going on. We

Phyllis Burchett:

had a ton going on. We had Hiawatha holidays were kind of

Phyllis Burchett:

time of sadness and celebration for me and and my family. We had

Phyllis Burchett:

three deaths on my extended family while two were

Phyllis Burchett:

unexpected, and it really made you stop and they were from car

Phyllis Burchett:

accidents actually. And it made you made us all step back and

Phyllis Burchett:

kind of appreciate life a little bit more, which I tried to do

Phyllis Burchett:

every day anyway. Now the older I get. Yeah, as you guys

Phyllis Burchett:

certainly remind me all the time, then I'm getting older.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Era does I don't. Yeah, right.

Phyllis Burchett:

We did have a really beautiful celebration of

Phyllis Burchett:

marriage with my great niece. The wedding was absolutely

Phyllis Burchett:

stunning and gorgeous. And they got lucky and didn't have rain

Phyllis Burchett:

for their outside December wedding in Georgia, which we've

Phyllis Burchett:

had tons of rain here. I was thankfully to get to see a lot

Phyllis Burchett:

of really beautiful old friends in December I have several

Phyllis Burchett:

different groups of friends I get together with still some of

Phyllis Burchett:

them I've I've first students that I ever taught in the horse

Phyllis Burchett:

business. That's one group. And then I have another group of

Phyllis Burchett:

clients that I trained and showed horses for that we get

Phyllis Burchett:

together with and then another group of high school friends

Phyllis Burchett:

that I get together with so and then of course, my family and

Phyllis Burchett:

everything. And we had unprecedented cold here at

Phyllis Burchett:

Christmas for Georgia, like four days of super, super cold, and

Phyllis Burchett:

had some water froze up and pipe bursts. And I'm really thankful

Phyllis Burchett:

to my family that came to my rescue. And I guess the biggest

Phyllis Burchett:

thing for me was that the first time ever, I hosted Christmas

Phyllis Burchett:

for everyone at my house. So that was that was kind of

Phyllis Burchett:

special and nice. And it was really I have a smaller house

Phyllis Burchett:

than what we're used to. So it was nice to have everybody in

Phyllis Burchett:

one room instead of all scattered and we actually sit

Phyllis Burchett:

and talk to each other was really cool. So that's about it.

Cara Taylor Swift:

That sounds like just a lot of highs and

Cara Taylor Swift:

lows and magic moments, but also just a lot of sadness. I'm sorry

Cara Taylor Swift:

that you had family loss over the holiday. Yeah,

Phyllis Burchett:

it was like I said, I'm very unexpected for

Phyllis Burchett:

two of them. One of them was a cousin that had cancer and the

Phyllis Burchett:

other two was I mean the one in Kentucky she's actually 21 years

Phyllis Burchett:

old and had a car wreck. So it was very sad for her obviously

Cara Taylor Swift:

and then Congratulations on the wedding.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Yeah, yeah, it

Phyllis Burchett:

was really really nice. So Kim What have

Phyllis Burchett:

you been up to?

Cara Taylor Swift:

So I have been enjoying my last little bit

Cara Taylor Swift:

of holiday time and I felt like I got thrown into the deep end

Cara Taylor Swift:

of the pool this week. Again I have been so concentrated on

Cara Taylor Swift:

working on my business and now I have to be back to working in my

Cara Taylor Swift:

business I my holidays were beautifully quiet and I lie I

Cara Taylor Swift:

giggle a little bit Phyllis is definition of what is cold

Cara Taylor Swift:

because we had our first bout of of serious winter here during

Cara Taylor Swift:

during that same period of time.

Phyllis Burchett:

Well when it's below zero that's called for GA

Phyllis Burchett:

we were

Cara Taylor Swift:

definitely we were in the negatives like

Cara Taylor Swift:

negative 12 and negative 17 One days and we had a good six to

Cara Taylor Swift:

eight inches of snow which was another another joyful moment.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Yeah, it's an Oh it's beautiful until you have to go do chores

Cara Taylor Swift:

in it so but it is pretty and we all survived me and all the

Cara Taylor Swift:

elderly horses around here managed to get through the cold

Cara Taylor Swift:

snap without a problem and then I've been buried in In your end

Cara Taylor Swift:

are new year planning, which now it's like it's no more planning

Cara Taylor Swift:

it's doing and catching up my social media, which is something

Cara Taylor Swift:

new for me. I know that sounds weird because I teach social

Cara Taylor Swift:

media but I've very rarely done social media for myself, it's

Cara Taylor Swift:

always been for clients. And in the last year and a half or two

Cara Taylor Swift:

years, I've really switched that around to where I don't have any

Cara Taylor Swift:

social media clients anymore. And now it's my turn to do it

Cara Taylor Swift:

for myself. So I got to do that for me, which is kind of fun. I

Cara Taylor Swift:

wrote a bajillion blog posts and recorded a whole bunch of videos

Cara Taylor Swift:

for Cal girls with cameras, which Kara has started posting

Cara Taylor Swift:

in there on my Kim Beer photography, Facebook, and

Cara Taylor Swift:

Instagram pages as well. But lots of fun things happening on

Cara Taylor Swift:

my YouTube channel right now. And then, of course, I had a

Cara Taylor Swift:

quiet Christmas with Nick and I, I made something called for New

Cara Taylor Swift:

Years, I made this German dish called barrack. And it's I don't

Cara Taylor Swift:

know if I pronounced that correct. I never heard anybody

Cara Taylor Swift:

say the word. But it's these pockets stuffed with cabbage and

Cara Taylor Swift:

meat and, and a French silk pie, which I'm very proud of, because

Cara Taylor Swift:

I don't usually bake not to that level anyway.

Cara Taylor Swift:

But I have to say you are probably the most productive

Cara Taylor Swift:

person I know, during downtime, like you'd obviously and the

Cara Taylor Swift:

same thing did have it and I tend to be someone that's a

Cara Taylor Swift:

little more like, I have downtime, and I take the

Cara Taylor Swift:

downtime. And I'm really I really have a hard time to get

Cara Taylor Swift:

motivated to get like all the extra stuff done that I say that

Cara Taylor Swift:

I'm gonna get done. When I have the time. You know, all those

Cara Taylor Swift:

things. You're the person that actually does those things. When

Cara Taylor Swift:

they say me, and one of these days when I have time, I'm going

Cara Taylor Swift:

to do this, you do it. Like you're the only person I know

Cara Taylor Swift:

that does that. And it's I wish I could have like 10% of that in

Cara Taylor Swift:

my body. Just 10% I'm

Phyllis Burchett:

100% the same way. Probably downtime to me

Phyllis Burchett:

means go do something fun. It doesn't mean catch up on past

Phyllis Burchett:

projects or things that I wanted to jam.

Cara Taylor Swift:

This is fun. I know that sounds crazy, but

Cara Taylor Swift:

the writing and the being creative and exciting and the

Cara Taylor Swift:

new ideas true. Because she is

Phyllis Burchett:

yes, that is true. Because she is very, she's

Phyllis Burchett:

very good at writing and very creative. So and thank you for

Phyllis Burchett:

doing all those videos cam. That's amazing. They're gonna be

Phyllis Burchett:

very helpful to people,

Cara Taylor Swift:

they're going to be such an asset to the

Cara Taylor Swift:

cowgirls with cameras community, the first one got posted this

Cara Taylor Swift:

week. And our plan is to post a couple every week. So I am super

Cara Taylor Swift:

stoked. And then pulling content, Phyllis, I'm gonna

Cara Taylor Swift:

start pulling more content from you and more content for my

Cara Taylor Swift:

stuff. So I think we're just going to put more and more out

Cara Taylor Swift:

into that community. So I'm super excited for the cowgirls

Cara Taylor Swift:

with cameras out there.

Phyllis Burchett:

Yeah, yes. And thanks for all your hard work

Phyllis Burchett:

with social media to Cara That's awesome. Yeah, I should do more

Phyllis Burchett:

to help you. Which I don't you really shifted.

Cara Taylor Swift:

That's alright, I love you.

Phyllis Burchett:

Okay, maybe that will be one of my goals for

Phyllis Burchett:

the year.

Kimberly Beer:

Which I think is an excellent segue into our

Kimberly Beer:

conversation topic for today, which is, there we go. This is

Kimberly Beer:

about creating. So what we wanted to talk about today, and

Kimberly Beer:

we've had a little bit of befuddlement about what this

Kimberly Beer:

topic exactly meant. It's interesting to coordinate topics

Kimberly Beer:

between three very busy photographers with three very

Kimberly Beer:

different approaches to life and business to get us all to settle

Kimberly Beer:

in on one topic and understand what it means and get us all on

Kimberly Beer:

a path to one goal. So today, it's about creating your

Kimberly Beer:

photography future. And this episode is really dedicated to

Kimberly Beer:

helping you understand better how to move your business and

Kimberly Beer:

your photography, expertise, your skills, your ability,

Kimberly Beer:

because photography is not just a job, you don't just walk

Kimberly Beer:

outside and take photos. There's a lot to this. And there's a lot

Kimberly Beer:

of creativity, there's a lot of technical expertise, it really

Kimberly Beer:

pulls on all avenues of creativity and production. So

Kimberly Beer:

today, we're going to talk a little bit about how to guide

Kimberly Beer:

that for yourself, for your business for your future. So

Kimberly Beer:

Cara, I think you are going to start us off today with some

Kimberly Beer:

really great ideas here and thoughts.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I think I wanted to keep it pretty simple.

Cara Taylor Swift:

So I have a different process when I'm planning for my

Cara Taylor Swift:

business, specifically in and around goals. But this is

Cara Taylor Swift:

something when I was thinking about this topic, I was thinking

Cara Taylor Swift:

about photography and my photography, but also for our

Cara Taylor Swift:

listeners, there's a lot of people out there that are just

Cara Taylor Swift:

they just want to grow their photography. And so, for me,

Cara Taylor Swift:

I've been doing a lot of planning, but the way that I

Cara Taylor Swift:

like to do that is I like to look back to what I did last

Cara Taylor Swift:

year or this last year. So it's when you actually do that and

Cara Taylor Swift:

you sit down and you start going through your work from the last

Cara Taylor Swift:

year. First of all, it's amazing to see everything that you

Cara Taylor Swift:

accomplished all in one place. And I was scrolling through when

Cara Taylor Swift:

I was looking at the number of like business sheets that I had

Cara Taylor Swift:

I looked at the number of events that we hosted as cowgirls with

Cara Taylor Swift:

cameras, the workshops that I attended and collected images.

Cara Taylor Swift:

And it's really a cool thing to see. And it's also when you look

Cara Taylor Swift:

at it from the perspective of where are the gaps? What did I

Cara Taylor Swift:

miss? What can I do better? And that's where I try to look at

Cara Taylor Swift:

this piece of things. So I take a look at what I liked about my

Cara Taylor Swift:

work first, like, what are some of the events that I attended,

Cara Taylor Swift:

that I liked? What are the shoots that I really liked? What

Cara Taylor Swift:

did I like about those shoots? What worked, what didn't work

Cara Taylor Swift:

and start kind of thinking about those pieces? And then and then

Cara Taylor Swift:

I started thinking about okay, so What didn't I like? What were

Cara Taylor Swift:

the shoots that I wasn't happy with? And then What didn't I

Cara Taylor Swift:

like about them? What were the shoots and an event that I just

Cara Taylor Swift:

didn't feel like I did well at and why. And I try to piece some

Cara Taylor Swift:

of that out. I think about things like mistakes that I

Cara Taylor Swift:

made, like, Did I have issues with posing, sometimes my brain

Cara Taylor Swift:

just fizzles and I'll be able to shoot and I I'll have like

Cara Taylor Swift:

posing diversity issues like I'll kind of get stuck with my

Cara Taylor Swift:

flow. And I'll feel like I come back from the shoot. And there's

Cara Taylor Swift:

just not enough diversity and what I came back with for my

Cara Taylor Swift:

client, or I didn't have the creativity at an event that I

Cara Taylor Swift:

attended at one of the shoots, and I didn't get what I really

Cara Taylor Swift:

wanted to get from it. And I tried to figure out what was

Cara Taylor Swift:

that like? What caused that? Was it because I didn't get enough

Cara Taylor Swift:

sleep? didn't put enough time in to prep for the shoot? Was it a

Cara Taylor Swift:

technical issue? Was I just not moving my feet enough to get

Cara Taylor Swift:

moved around? So I try to like kind of piecemeal some of that

Cara Taylor Swift:

out. Then I think about what did I shoot that I really loved this

Cara Taylor Swift:

year, not in terms of like the images that I gathered or that I

Cara Taylor Swift:

created. But what did I enjoy? Like what made me happy when I

Cara Taylor Swift:

was shooting it? And what do I think that spurred from was it

Cara Taylor Swift:

because my paid session was going really smoothly? That the

Cara Taylor Swift:

model was easy to work with that I felt like I was getting a ton

Cara Taylor Swift:

of great stuff. Or was it the camaraderie of the people I was

Cara Taylor Swift:

shooting with was at the location because I want to shoot

Cara Taylor Swift:

more of that, right? I want to have more sessions like that. So

Cara Taylor Swift:

I spend a lot of time thinking about that. And then on the same

Cara Taylor Swift:

flip side of that, what did I hate? You know, were there types

Cara Taylor Swift:

of sessions that I hated. And I felt painful, and I was pulling

Cara Taylor Swift:

teeth to get the job done. And I was unmotivated to complete the

Cara Taylor Swift:

work. Because I definitely want to try to shoot less of that

Cara Taylor Swift:

this year, if there was a type of event that I attended, and I

Cara Taylor Swift:

didn't enjoy it didn't get anything I liked or just hated

Cara Taylor Swift:

the process. I want to shoot less of that this year do less

Cara Taylor Swift:

of that this year. I also like to think about did I learn

Cara Taylor Swift:

anything new this year? So I'll sit down? And I'll actually

Cara Taylor Swift:

think, Okay, did I add a new skill to my toolkit? And that I

Cara Taylor Swift:

think is always super eye opening. And it tells me a lot

Cara Taylor Swift:

about what I spent my time on. So did I learn something? Or did

Cara Taylor Swift:

I coast along, and I've had years where I've looked back and

Cara Taylor Swift:

I didn't feel like my photography grew at all. And it

Cara Taylor Swift:

maybe it did in some way. But I feel like it was very stagnant.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I didn't get a lot out of it. And I've had years where I went

Cara Taylor Swift:

leaps and bounds forward in my photography. So I tried to think

Cara Taylor Swift:

about like, what do I want to learn this year? That's new to

Cara Taylor Swift:

me, Are there new tools that I want to try a new piece of gear

Cara Taylor Swift:

I want to try? Is there new editing software that I've

Cara Taylor Swift:

always wanted to try or something that if Trump's my

Cara Taylor Swift:

photography business that this might be the year that

Cara Taylor Swift:

implement, it might be something like I've had a lot of posing

Cara Taylor Swift:

classes, but maybe I want to drill down and focus on

Cara Taylor Swift:

something really specific in posing. So maybe I want to learn

Cara Taylor Swift:

to pose hands, or I want to learn to pose couples, you know,

Cara Taylor Swift:

something really specific. And try to figure out how to work

Cara Taylor Swift:

that into my plan for the year. And that is important because

Cara Taylor Swift:

when you're scoping out and thinking about all of the

Cara Taylor Swift:

options you have for the year, you can actually then be really

Cara Taylor Swift:

conscious. And really, you can really put emphasis on those

Cara Taylor Swift:

pieces and making sure that you include that in the work that

Cara Taylor Swift:

you do for the year. And then I just think it can be really easy

Cara Taylor Swift:

to think that just throw ideas out there and wait and see what

Cara Taylor Swift:

happens. And I think if you don't actively do this work and

Cara Taylor Swift:

schedule them into your next year, then you probably won't do

Cara Taylor Swift:

it. And you've got to put them on the calendar. So if you're

Cara Taylor Swift:

thinking you and I want to do a workshop this year, if you

Cara Taylor Swift:

haven't already booked it, now's the time to be booking those and

Cara Taylor Swift:

even if it's a year out, you need to get that on your

Cara Taylor Swift:

schedule so you can start planning for it. You know, this

Cara Taylor Swift:

is the time to do it. If there's a class you want to take, go

Cara Taylor Swift:

ahead and schedule that class and then schedule the time to

Cara Taylor Swift:

actually complete it. I don't know about you guys, but I can

Cara Taylor Swift:

raise my hand about the number of online courses I purchased

Cara Taylor Swift:

and then never actually scheduled the time to complete

Cara Taylor Swift:

them. So I think just being really intentional about moving

Cara Taylor Swift:

my work forward creatively. I don't know if I can say that

Cara Taylor Swift:

word correctly this morning. But being really intentional about

Cara Taylor Swift:

that is thank you is gonna be big for me this year. What about

Cara Taylor Swift:

you guys? Any thoughts on that?

Phyllis Burchett:

Kudos to you Cara for I think you added a

Phyllis Burchett:

great big asset to your photography work with the video

Phyllis Burchett:

work you're doing this past year. Thank

Cara Taylor Swift:

you. That was a big, big goal on my to do list

Cara Taylor Swift:

last year. And you and I got together and I said if I'm going

Cara Taylor Swift:

to do this I've got to hire someone, and I've got to get on

Cara Taylor Swift:

here and it has to be on my calendar. And then I have to

Cara Taylor Swift:

make myself use it. And so I set a goal and how I was going to

Cara Taylor Swift:

make myself use it. But I'll tell you, it came at a cost to

Cara Taylor Swift:

the other side of my, to my photography side of things I

Cara Taylor Swift:

didn't collect, as you know, didn't create as many still

Cara Taylor Swift:

images, as I have in previous years because my brain and my

Cara Taylor Swift:

energy and my thought process was so heavily focused on video

Cara Taylor Swift:

last year,

Phyllis Burchett:

still, I mean, we did the class together with

Phyllis Burchett:

Natalie, and you've really utilized yours, I've let mine

Phyllis Burchett:

fall apart to the point where I don't even I'd have to take the

Phyllis Burchett:

whole class all over again. No, that's not true. Yeah, pretty

Phyllis Burchett:

much. Anyway, I digress. Getting back to the topic where our

Phyllis Burchett:

photography future lies, I'd first off, I'd like to talk

Phyllis Burchett:

about some things that I think would be helpful to people to

Phyllis Burchett:

try to break some habits, before we talk about goals or going

Phyllis Burchett:

into projects or whatever for the new year. And these are

Phyllis Burchett:

things that all have helped me and I still have to think

Phyllis Burchett:

consciously about each and every one of them, even to this day.

Phyllis Burchett:

So don't think this is just something for newbies is

Phyllis Burchett:

something for everybody. But number one is don't rush. When

Phyllis Burchett:

you get out to a shoot, slow down and pay attention to what

Phyllis Burchett:

you're doing and your surroundings. Think about your

Phyllis Burchett:

composition, the direction of light camera settings you want

Phyllis Burchett:

to use before pushing the button, what is your goal with

Phyllis Burchett:

that image, think about all these things. Sure, you might

Phyllis Burchett:

miss a shot occasionally. But by not rushing, you're probably

Phyllis Burchett:

going to increase the number of great shots you get for me then

Phyllis Burchett:

number two was don't over process. What makes post

Phyllis Burchett:

processing a true art is knowing how to use it in moderation. So

Phyllis Burchett:

I think use post processing as a way to make your photos better

Phyllis Burchett:

to make your best photos better, don't waste time on the rest.

Phyllis Burchett:

Don't waste time on the ones that are less than just use post

Phyllis Burchett:

processing to further or to enhance your best photos, the

Phyllis Burchett:

best place to work on the quality of your photos is when

Phyllis Burchett:

you're shooting. Next is don't be a follower, I think it's

Phyllis Burchett:

really good to study the work of other photographers. But to

Phyllis Burchett:

become a really great photographer yourself, you need

Phyllis Burchett:

to be original and push the boundaries and think outside of

Phyllis Burchett:

the box sometimes don't do what everybody else is doing focus on

Phyllis Burchett:

finding your own style. The last bad habit or you know, habit

Phyllis Burchett:

that I think that is helpful for people to try to eliminate would

Phyllis Burchett:

be to don't clutter, look at some of the really great photos

Phyllis Burchett:

you see out there. And they typically have some kind of

Phyllis Burchett:

simplicity to them, the focus is on a limited number of elements.

Phyllis Burchett:

And anything that's not relevant to the photo is left out of the

Phyllis Burchett:

frame. So if you really want to improve your images take on what

Phyllis Burchett:

I would call kind of a minimalist approach, like less

Phyllis Burchett:

is more, I guess is a good way to put it. I just did a

Phyllis Burchett:

newsletter on this very topic this week. So I know this is

Phyllis Burchett:

probably to some people that get my newsletter and listen to the

Phyllis Burchett:

podcast to this may be a little bit of duplicating, but I think

Phyllis Burchett:

to hear it, hear somebody say it versus reading it sometimes is

Phyllis Burchett:

helpful, too. But I had some challenges for my readers for

Phyllis Burchett:

the new year. And one of them was to ask yourself the

Phyllis Burchett:

question, Who were you shooting for? Who is your work for? I

Phyllis Burchett:

think it's helpful to go out there and make your work for one

Phyllis Burchett:

person only find that person that you're trying to please

Phyllis Burchett:

whether it be you or what your audience is, and please that one

Phyllis Burchett:

person only, I think because of social media, we all are trying

Phyllis Burchett:

to an a futile attempt to please the masses. And so I think that

Phyllis Burchett:

if we will just think about having some cohesion and our

Phyllis Burchett:

images and trying to please that one person that that would be

Phyllis Burchett:

really helpful to your work, and to further your work. Also, I

Phyllis Burchett:

know several great photographers that don't even have a website

Phyllis Burchett:

and I so I think another challenge I have is if you don't

Phyllis Burchett:

have a website, give her work a place to live online. And I do

Phyllis Burchett:

not mean on social media. There's so many great options

Phyllis Burchett:

out there for online galleries right now set aside, I think

Phyllis Burchett:

Cara kind of hit on this a little bit, set aside some time

Phyllis Burchett:

to study your old photos. And I don't mean just from the past

Phyllis Burchett:

year, I mean, go back and see how far you've come. It's a

Phyllis Burchett:

great way to measure your improvement and growth as a

Phyllis Burchett:

photographer, I think it's really important to look back

Phyllis Burchett:

and see how far you've come study your own work. And you may

Phyllis Burchett:

see like some really great patterns and all these photos

Phyllis Burchett:

you might look through there and, and try to create

Phyllis Burchett:

collections based on subjects, themes or locations, even make a

Phyllis Burchett:

collection and then go print this collection and find a place

Phyllis Burchett:

in your home your studio, or even search at a local business

Phyllis Burchett:

or gallery to display it in. You know, a lot of people don't take

Phyllis Burchett:

the time to print their work. And I think that's really super important.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I agree with you on that. And I'm going to

Cara Taylor Swift:

interrupt you for a second. I think that's such an important

Cara Taylor Swift:

piece of it. And I mean, there's lots of photographers that I

Cara Taylor Swift:

talked to that have never printed their work and that's a

Cara Taylor Swift:

such a cool part of the process. And for me, that was something I

Cara Taylor Swift:

found out I enjoyed in my business, the business side of

Cara Taylor Swift:

things was taking an image from that initial spark concept all

Cara Taylor Swift:

the way through to the last piece where it's on somebody's

Cara Taylor Swift:

wall and sometimes that was just my own wall. Yeah. Or in the

Cara Taylor Swift:

early days, my parents wall you know, because they were the only

Cara Taylor Swift:

one that would hang anything up of mine. So but That's okay.

Cara Taylor Swift:

Like when you when you learn so much in that process in

Cara Taylor Swift:

sometimes when you print your work, you can see things that

Cara Taylor Swift:

you don't see when it's just in a small social media sized

Cara Taylor Swift:

space.

Phyllis Burchett:

So I, I totally agree such a good point.

Phyllis Burchett:

And I'm with you, I don't I know a lot of people that and they're

Phyllis Burchett:

still showing their pictures to people off their phones, you

Phyllis Burchett:

know. And I think that's really important in this day and age is

Phyllis Burchett:

to get out there and print your work and hang it up, don't just

Phyllis Burchett:

print it, hang it up, frame it, or just do gallery wraps or

Phyllis Burchett:

whatever you want to do. But hanging on the wall, whether

Phyllis Burchett:

it's in your home, or your family's home, or whatever, but

Phyllis Burchett:

get it out there.

Cara Taylor Swift:

My entire house is decorated with my own

Cara Taylor Swift:

photography, like happy memories for me. And like, everywhere I

Cara Taylor Swift:

look, it's something I've drawn or something, I do have other

Cara Taylor Swift:

people's art hanging in my home. And I can never decide whether

Cara Taylor Swift:

it's just total like narcissistic egotism, to have my

Cara Taylor Swift:

own work hanging in here and primarily, or whether it's just

Cara Taylor Swift:

that I love and appreciate what I do. And I will also say on the

Cara Taylor Swift:

printed topic, there is no better feeling in the world than

Cara Taylor Swift:

to walking into a client's home and seeing something that you

Cara Taylor Swift:

have created with them hanging on their wall in a coveted

Cara Taylor Swift:

space. I just have to say that is one of the best feelings on

Cara Taylor Swift:

the planet.

Phyllis Burchett:

I totally agree cam. I think that's really

Phyllis Burchett:

cool when you sell a piece of art or even like you care, like

Phyllis Burchett:

when you're doing portrait work and people buy your artwork for

Phyllis Burchett:

their homes is when people send me an email or a screenshot of

Phyllis Burchett:

their some of my work hanging in their home. And I just I don't

Phyllis Burchett:

know, that just really makes your day. I think that's really

Phyllis Burchett:

cool. So yes, and I'm the same way I have a lot of my I still

Phyllis Burchett:

have kind of semi a new house at six years old now. But I've been

Phyllis Burchett:

really funny about wanting to put things on the wall because I

Phyllis Burchett:

didn't want to mess my walls up. But I have a mix of it's mostly

Phyllis Burchett:

mine. But I do have some other photographers work in here that

Phyllis Burchett:

when I used to do a lot of nature photography, so like when

Phyllis Burchett:

you see you can't see us but Kim and Kara can see me and I have a

Phyllis Burchett:

polar bear, and fireweed right behind me. And that's a really

Phyllis Burchett:

good friend of mine in Canada that did that. So I think it's

Phyllis Burchett:

important to have art on your walls, whether it be yours or

Phyllis Burchett:

somebody else's, but mostly ours of course, because if you don't

Phyllis Burchett:

want to hang it on your walls, why would somebody else want to

Phyllis Burchett:

write my last challenge for my readers and and for you too, out

Phyllis Burchett:

there listeners is I think this would really be helpful to

Phyllis Burchett:

everyone. It doesn't matter what your skill level is at this

Phyllis Burchett:

point is to find someone just starting out in photography and

Phyllis Burchett:

mentor them your abilities will actually grow and when you teach

Phyllis Burchett:

what you know to someone else, is your ideas and techniques

Phyllis Burchett:

become I think more ingrained in your own mind and your soul to

Phyllis Burchett:

when you learn to explain them to another person, you will both

Phyllis Burchett:

grow as photographers. So get out there and find someone that

Phyllis Burchett:

you can mentor. Well, I think

Cara Taylor Swift:

that's what we're you know, we're always

Cara Taylor Swift:

talking about as in, let's not push people down, let's pull

Cara Taylor Swift:

them up with this. And there's always somebody that wishes they

Cara Taylor Swift:

were where you were at in terms of your skill level. So find

Cara Taylor Swift:

yourself a mentor, and then work with other people that just you

Cara Taylor Swift:

know, don't be afraid to answer questions for people and pull

Cara Taylor Swift:

them up there

Cara Taylor Swift:

with you. So absolutely. Community is so important, I

Cara Taylor Swift:

will reiterate that that's one of our goals, that cowgirls with

Cara Taylor Swift:

cameras is to create that community that safe for people

Cara Taylor Swift:

to share in to be able to help each other. And there's again,

Cara Taylor Swift:

another really high point in my career and in my life is when I

Cara Taylor Swift:

see participants in our workshops, answering questions

Cara Taylor Swift:

for each other, like they've learned it from one of us or

Cara Taylor Swift:

they've picked it up on their own and somebody else has a

Cara Taylor Swift:

problem or wants to excel at something and and another

Cara Taylor Swift:

student will step forward and say hey, I can help you with

Cara Taylor Swift:

that. So I always think that's a, that's a big kudos to us and

Cara Taylor Swift:

to them for having that ability to do that. So as you guys all

Cara Taylor Swift:

are aware, I'm the woowoo one of this crowd. Oh, I'm the one who

Cara Taylor Swift:

looks at that 30,000 foot view and who doesn't necessarily have

Cara Taylor Swift:

a prepared list of things to share or tips to give. What I do

Cara Taylor Swift:

have to share though is that when you're looking at creating

Cara Taylor Swift:

your future as a photographer when you're looking at the first

Cara Taylor Swift:

part of the year, and as Phyllis and Cara both pointed out, it's

Cara Taylor Swift:

a really good objective in your life to go back and spend some

Cara Taylor Swift:

time looking over the work that you've done in the past because

Cara Taylor Swift:

you do need to look back to look forward there's a whole workshop

Cara Taylor Swift:

that I and other Gestalt has to do around that where it's

Cara Taylor Swift:

looking back and then looking forward at your future. So I

Cara Taylor Swift:

want to take that looking forward to your future part a

Cara Taylor Swift:

little bit deeper. What I recommend you do is sit with

Cara Taylor Swift:

yourself for 30 minutes or an hour or even longer and Imagine

Cara Taylor Swift:

what you want, as a photographer in the future, like pick a day,

Cara Taylor Swift:

way out there three years or five years in the future. And

Cara Taylor Swift:

imagine that day from start to finish in your ultimate

Cara Taylor Swift:

connection with your photography. And maybe that's

Cara Taylor Swift:

that you're on a workshop or retreat somewhere and you're out

Cara Taylor Swift:

shooting horses or Western lifestyle images or bears in a

Cara Taylor Swift:

natural setting and Alaska somewhere, whatever that happens

Cara Taylor Swift:

to be for you look at your vision, and what is it that you

Cara Taylor Swift:

would like to see yourself doing as a photographer three years or

Cara Taylor Swift:

five years out into the future? And I would really encourage you

Cara Taylor Swift:

to write that down part of that vision is you working with

Cara Taylor Swift:

clients, as a business photographer, you know, owning

Cara Taylor Swift:

your own photography business, working with clients? What does

Cara Taylor Swift:

that look like for you? And more importantly, concentrate on what

Cara Taylor Swift:

that feels like for you? What is the feeling that you want to

Cara Taylor Swift:

have, from your photography, either as a hobby or an outlet

Cara Taylor Swift:

for creativity, or a business and all of the above? So what is

Cara Taylor Swift:

it that you really want? Because the truth is, is that when we

Cara Taylor Swift:

get to thinking about these things, when we imagine them and

Cara Taylor Swift:

I love this quote, it's all the universe will conspire to help

Cara Taylor Swift:

you achieve that goal. So think really readily about what it is

Cara Taylor Swift:

that you want for your future as a photographer. And don't be

Cara Taylor Swift:

afraid to dream big. Now for those out there who are like

Cara Taylor Swift:

Kira, who are this high s j in the Kersey Bates, a lot of times

Cara Taylor Swift:

when I come up with some big lofty goal, Cara's job in our

Cara Taylor Swift:

relationship with our specially with The Business Animal stuff

Cara Taylor Swift:

is to say, exactly how are we going to do that, Kim, but in

Cara Taylor Swift:

this moment of what I'm asking you to do, as this dreamy

Cara Taylor Swift:

photographer is I'm going to ask you to suspend that, and say, I

Cara Taylor Swift:

don't know how it's going to happen, but it's going to

Cara Taylor Swift:

happen. So if you're listening to this podcast, and you're

Cara Taylor Swift:

shooting with your phone, and you're hoping that someday you

Cara Taylor Swift:

could get a mirrorless or a DSLR camera and really learn how to

Cara Taylor Swift:

use it. Imagine yourself mastering that in that three to

Cara Taylor Swift:

five years out. And don't worry about how you're going to afford

Cara Taylor Swift:

to buy it or what you're going to do to learn it to learn to be

Cara Taylor Swift:

able to use it just know in your heart that that's what is going

Cara Taylor Swift:

to happen. And you're going to have to trust that because

Cara Taylor Swift:

remember, all the universe will conspire to help you be able to

Cara Taylor Swift:

create that goal when you imagine it in that type of a

Cara Taylor Swift:

setting. And especially if you write it down, writing it down

Cara Taylor Swift:

makes it even more powerful. And you don't have to share it with

Cara Taylor Swift:

another soul. If you don't want to, if you do go ahead. But if

Cara Taylor Swift:

you don't, don't worry about that. But that's one really

Cara Taylor Swift:

solid way to start creating the future that you really want as a

Cara Taylor Swift:

photographer or having a photography business. The second

Cara Taylor Swift:

thing I would encourage you to do is really understand

Cara Taylor Swift:

something that it took me a while to get my head wrapped

Cara Taylor Swift:

around when it comes to goal setting is that there's really

Cara Taylor Swift:

two parts to setting a goal. So when you get that vision put

Cara Taylor Swift:

together and you see what that's going to be. Now you can slip

Cara Taylor Swift:

into that, how am I going to make this happen. And many times

Cara Taylor Swift:

there's a lot of steps along the way. And we call those goals.

Cara Taylor Swift:

But the thing about a goal is it has a sister that has to come

Cara Taylor Swift:

along with it. And that's an objective, which is something

Cara Taylor Swift:

that's quantifiable. So this year, when Cara said to in 2022,

Cara Taylor Swift:

she wanted to learn how to do video, she set an objective to

Cara Taylor Swift:

spend a certain amount of time at every shoot shooting that

Cara Taylor Swift:

video to practice it right. And even though she may not have had

Cara Taylor Swift:

a solid number, I don't know if she did or didn't have a solid

Cara Taylor Swift:

number of videos that she wanted to shoot at any specific event.

Cara Taylor Swift:

She had a good understanding of how much time she wanted to

Cara Taylor Swift:

spend. And maybe that the video needed to be a priority because

Cara Taylor Swift:

she was learning it over the still photos in places where

Cara Taylor Swift:

that was acceptable. So you have to set a quantifiable part of

Cara Taylor Swift:

that goal. It has to have an objective to go along with it

Cara Taylor Swift:

and hold its hand so that it can get to the point that it

Cara Taylor Swift:

actually becomes a reality. So that's another piece to this

Cara Taylor Swift:

puzzle. Once you get the vision put together. You need to start

Cara Taylor Swift:

looking at what are the goals that I need to create along the

Cara Taylor Swift:

path those milestones you want to reach. And then when You

Cara Taylor Swift:

start breaking those down? How can you quantify and measure

Cara Taylor Swift:

that you have accomplished that particular goal? And I would

Cara Taylor Swift:

say, Cara, as you sit here at the beginning of 2023, which is

Cara Taylor Swift:

about a year out from when you worked with Natalie, yep. Would

Cara Taylor Swift:

you feel like that you have you accomplished your goal to learn

Cara Taylor Swift:

about the video and get a good handle on mastering it.

Cara Taylor Swift:

I don't feel like I mastered it. But I do feel like I've come

Cara Taylor Swift:

leaps and bounds. And I'm real happy because the one thing I

Cara Taylor Swift:

wanted to do was to be able to create small video clips for

Cara Taylor Swift:

social like, I wasn't trying to, like, go out and do videos for

Cara Taylor Swift:

people and sell them. But now I feel like I'm at a stage where

Cara Taylor Swift:

I'm ready to take the next step, which is to learn a little bit

Cara Taylor Swift:

more about the editing side. And I'm not somebody that's going to

Cara Taylor Swift:

jump right into the indie game. I have to take it in little

Cara Taylor Swift:

steps, like you said, and I definitely feel like I

Cara Taylor Swift:

accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish last year in terms

Cara Taylor Swift:

of that, that's awesome. Okay, well, I hope that this gets some

Cara Taylor Swift:

folks really thinking about their next year if you haven't

Cara Taylor Swift:

already done your goal setting you're planning for next year or

Cara Taylor Swift:

even if you've haven't even spent the time to think about

Cara Taylor Swift:

what do I want to shoot next year? What kind of adventures do

Cara Taylor Swift:

I want to have that this guest Do you thinking about that? Just

Cara Taylor Swift:

a reminder, we have a really curated selection of amazing

Cara Taylor Swift:

photography events that are open right now. I think several of

Cara Taylor Swift:

them have filled up but we do have space left in the beginner

Cara Taylor Swift:

workshop that we're planning to host here in St. Augustine,

Cara Taylor Swift:

Florida. So if you're really new to photography and want to learn

Cara Taylor Swift:

equine photography from the beginning, this is a perfect

Cara Taylor Swift:

event for you. We also have space at our cottonwood ranch

Cara Taylor Swift:

experience which is a really immersive photography shoot a

Cara Taylor Swift:

Western photography shoot with a lot of education packed into

Cara Taylor Swift:

that so you can bring your goals that you want to achieve and

Cara Taylor Swift:

you've got the three of us to work with you throughout that

Cara Taylor Swift:

week. Do we still have openings that dry head are we full for

Cara Taylor Swift:

dry head we're over four full okay so dry head is full horses

Cara Taylor Swift:

on the beach is full art of the cowgirl I'm assuming is full or

Cara Taylor Swift:

do we have openings for that for the summer

Kimberly Beer:

the January one is full the June one it they

Kimberly Beer:

don't start taking registrations till March the first and okay we

Kimberly Beer:

have a very limited number of spots at trappers Lake Lodge

Kimberly Beer:

left I'm Yeah, it's like it's people are filling that went up

Kimberly Beer:

really fast. It's a very

Cara Taylor Swift:

probably very limited so comes out that event

Cara Taylor Swift:

will be filled. So if you're thinking about that event, the

Cara Taylor Swift:

trappers like lodge event, definitely get on the website,

Cara Taylor Swift:

go to our events tab and pick through and see if there's

Cara Taylor Swift:

something that you might be interested in and get on the

Cara Taylor Swift:

list fast because those events are going really fast. I would

Cara Taylor Swift:

also like to just remind everyone about the CW see photo

Cara Taylor Swift:

challenge the cowgirls with cameras photo challenge. We had

Cara Taylor Swift:

some really great images come from our last challenge from our

Cara Taylor Swift:

last episode. We had some great images come from Becca's images

Cara Taylor Swift:

from our cottonwood ranch event. We had some great images come

Cara Taylor Swift:

from rocking a photos, from Marcy Jo photography. Just

Cara Taylor Swift:

flipping through to see folks that have participated. That's a

Cara Taylor Swift:

few right off the top. So thank you to the folks that are

Cara Taylor Swift:

participating in the CWC photo challenge. Our hope is to share

Cara Taylor Swift:

your images and our stories and just help spread your work out

Cara Taylor Swift:

there. This week. If you want to participate please use hashtag C

Cara Taylor Swift:

WC photo challenge and share with us and with the community

Cara Taylor Swift:

an image that you are really proud of from last year. If you

Cara Taylor Swift:

tagged cowgirls with cameras and use that hashtag on Instagram

Cara Taylor Swift:

CWC photo challenge I'll go look for those and share them so

Cara Taylor Swift:

thank you guys so much. This has been a great episode. Don't

Cara Taylor Swift:

forget to find us online at cowgirlswithcameras.com We're on

Cara Taylor Swift:

Instagram and Facebook at cowgirls with cameras. I think

Cara Taylor Swift:

that's it. Is there anything else?

Phyllis Burchett:

I think that's it for this week and hope

Phyllis Burchett:

everyone has a happy new year and a healthy happy, prosperous

Phyllis Burchett:

New 2023

Jaz:

Thanks for listening to this episode of cowgirls with

Jaz:

cameras. Don't let the laughter and learning stop here. Join our

Jaz:

community on social media. And be sure to visit our website for

Jaz:

more opportunities to fulfill your photography goals head to

Jaz:

cowgirlswithcameras.com That's cowgirls with cameras.com See