CREATIVE INTERVIEWS Episodes

EP 126: Let's face it... Millennials and Gen-Z are delaying, if not giving up on, many common adulthood decisions that came far more naturally to the generations before them. Marriage, home-buying, investing, saving for retirement, and having children are seen by some as nearly impossible due to the economics of today's day, and one of the big drivers in delaying those decisions....student loans. The crushing weight of 5-6 figure debt for 18-22-year-olds is often more than they can handle after...

EP 125: We've got a fantastic guest today, family photographer, Christian Michelle Grant, out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. We discuss many aspects of her art and business; from crafting her shooting and editing style to developing a marketing strategy and pricing structure that allow her to meet her goals. Beyond that, we delve into her journey of making the plunge into full-time photography and how she manages the anxiety that comes with that move. This is a lovely conversation about pursuing you...

EP 123: Connect with Core Group!!! Website For creatives 10 questions your accountant should be asking you Instagram Youtube Facebook Twitter This episode is brought to you by Bay Photo Lab. For all your professional photography printing services, go to bayphoto.com for 25% off your first time order! Support the show

EP 121: Clients seek out portrait photography services for a variety of interests and needs; be it for corporate, family, or brand-building reasons. There's also a market of people who seek out more personal and empowering forms of artistic expression that may not be seen quite as often by friends, family, and colleagues. In this episode, we talk with Arizona boudoir photographer, Shayla Pelton, about her journey through this fascinating space of sexuality and expression. We chat about the emoti...

EP 117: Golf is an amazing opportunity to network and connect with people. It's also a great place to learn valuable life lessons. My guest is Owen Main, a Southern California photographer who has built a successful 6-figure business in a very short time frame, and our recording studio today is on the golf course, where I ask Owen a question on each hole; some of which are professional and others that are personal. We talk about the best lessons he's learned, how he balances art and commerce, an...

EP 115: Did you know that accounting is an important part of your business? Of course, you did! The problem is many of us are not fully equipped to handle those duties while also trying to be the very best artist we can be. This is where hiring an accountant can come into play, but that first step in approaching one can be intimidating or overwhelming for first-time business owners. After all, what do we say? What do we ask? Is my business valid enough? I only do this part-time! In this episode,...

EP 112: Miquel Quiles is a Sony Artisan of Imagery portrait photographer and digital creator, and in this episode, he's looking at my book and helping me navigate my next moves in wedding photography. If you've never had a portfolio review before, or are nervous about getting one yourself, hopefully, this behind-the-curtains peek of a real review will help ease your anxiety. www.miguelquiles.com @miguelquilesjr Youtube This episode is brought to you by Bay Photo Lab. For all your professional p...

EP 111: If you're getting into wedding photography, doing a styled shoot may be very beneficial for networking with vendors and developing your own portfolio. As someone who hasn't shot a styled wedding shoot before, I went straight to a qualified source and asked long-time wedding photographer, Phylicia Willis, what the best actionable steps are to getting your first styled shoot off the ground. www.phyliciawillis.com @phylicia.willis This episode is brought to you by Bay Photo Lab. For all yo...

EP 110: What is brand strategy? How do you craft it? And most importantly, how do we ensure our ideal clients are experiencing our brand in a consistent fashion that aligns with our vision? I'm here at WPPI23 in Las Vegas, coming off a grueling 4 days of networking and learning from a diverse group of creative professionals. Today I got a few short minutes with Kaleigh Weise, who is an action-oriented problem solver, creator, coach, entrepreneur, and brand strategist educator. We chat very quick...

EP 106: What is life like as an editorial photographer for a major news publication? Today I am sitting down with photographer, Dan MacMedan, to talk about his many years shooting for USA Today and his journey in freelance. From golf tournaments to award shows to press junkets, Dan gives us a peak behind the entertainment curtain and what goes into a 5-minute celebrity portrait. This episode is brought to you by Bay Photo Lab. For all your professional photography printing services, go to bay...

EP 105: If you ever want a fun question to ask other business owners, try asking them what their favorite tax write-off is. In this episode, I got to ask that question to a number of successful creatives at the Noobie Photographer's conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Rachel Crowe - @okcrowe Feuza Reis - @fusecreativeinc Nathan Holritz - @nathanholritz LaJoy Lewis - @lajoyphotographyllc Britney Smith - @theglamlabphotography Ashley Freehan - @thepurposegathering Shaun Austin Gordon - @shaunau...

EP 104: Have you ever asked a business owner "what is the best lesson you've ever learned?" It's a great question, and today I'm at the Noobie Photographer's conference asking entrepreneurs a slight variation of that question, by asking them what the hardest lessons were in their careers. Rachel Crowe - @okcrowe Feuza Reis - @fusecreativeinc Nathan Holritz - @nathanholritz LaJoy Lewis - @lajoyphotographyllc Britney Smith - @theglamlabphotography Ashley Freehan - @thepurposegathering Shaun Austi...

EP 103: I am here at the Noobie Photographer's Conference in Chattanooga, Tennesee, picking the brains of professional photographers and business owners on what the best investment has been for them in their careers. Oftentimes, I find amateur photographers cite a new piece of camera equipment as their best investment, which is not to say that is wrong or misguided, but it does highlight a perspective shift from many people starting out to those who have reached a certain level they set out to. ...

EP 102: We're out on location! I am wrapping up here at the Noobie Photographer's conference here in Chattanooga Tennesee, talking to successful business owners and creatives about art, life, and business. In the quiet moments, I decided to pull every speaker aside for a quick poll, asking them where in business they think startup creatives tend to waste the most time on. What is amazing is each entrepreneur has his/her own take on what efforts rank highest as a diminishing return, and hopefully...

EP 101: Today's guest is Nicolas Bates; an outstanding portrait and editorial photographer based in Los Angeles. In this episode, we discuss how he developed his own style and aesthetic through countless projects and iterations over the years, and why personal work can yield so much more ROI outside of just content filler for Instagram. From relationships to empathy to confidence, there is a lot to gain from becoming a producer of your own vision. nicolasbates.com IG: @nicolas_bates This epis...

EP 79: As visual creatives, it's important to grasp the responsibilities and roles of your creative team for optimizing your projects as best you can. As human beings, it's even more important to have empathy for the people you work with and try to understand where they are coming from and what motivates them. In this episode, I sit down with male model, Jacob Basheer Anton to discuss his career and his motivations to create meaningful art. Jacob Basheer Anton https://basheermethod.com/ https:/...

💯 💯 💯 "It's not about the gear at all in any way. No one's gonna hire you because you had a 600, no one's gonna hire you because you have a phase one, but both those you can rent, right? So if the client comes to you and says, Hey, I need you to shoot and you think at that point that the lens is needed, you rent it, but you shouldn't be having a $12k - $15k lens, sitting in your arsenal that you only use sparingly."

💯 💯 💯 ""As a freelancer, I don't get the guarantee of work. I don't get company gear, I don't get a 401k, I don't get health benefits. So what do I get? I get the copyright to my work. I get control of my work. I get the opportunity to leverage that work for additional revenue.""

💯 💯 💯 "I don't believe that 'fake it till you make it' thing. I don't believe in that. You do have to believe in your work and yourself. But for those starting out with a marketing plan, you've got to be consistent. And you have to target the people who you know, will use your type of imagery.

💯 💯 💯 "If you want to be a very efficient ninja with your workflow, to do things as fast as possible like a sports photographer on Super Bowl Sunday, the key is kind of doing a little bit of prep work beforehand, getting your thing set up and understanding the information that you're going to need."

💯💯💯 “Leonardo da Vinci says that “color is the children of light”, which I found beautiful. You could assign any emotion that you wanted to color. There are no rules to say that red is powerful, or blue is this or that. It's whatever rules you want to make, and from there, you have your roadmap.” Alexis Cuarezma

💯💯💯 “An imperfect portfolio that is pitched will be infinitely more successful than the perfect portfolio that's never shown to anyone" James Patrick

💯💯💯 "I've worked in sports for years on some level or another. I've never hit a home run in my life so it's like, that's the average person. I love photography. I had no desire ever in my life to go take photos for a living and schlep my portfolio around and get told "no" a bunch of times. Zero. I'm happy doing exactly what I do. I couldn't be happier. And it's been the most rewarding existence I think I could ever have imagined." Brad Smith

💯💯💯 “I need to shout out my whole team, like our whole team; the Bucs photo team, the creative team, the behind the scenes stuff, like we've been saying, there's so many people that have helped me get here and then helped the team get to where we are as an organization." Kyle Zedaker