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Entrepreneurship
Business

The Beauty of Calling the Shots: The Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship 

This is your business. Your company. Your future. You must be confident in your vision. You cannot build your company on someone else’s vision. Think about it. As a photographer, when clients come to me with their Pinterest vision boards, I typically hand them back. Why? Not because I am trying to be obnoxious, but because that was not my idea. I can’t execute on someone else’s vision any more than another photographer can execute on mine.

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01/01/2020
pose
Posing

3 Overlooked Posing Secrets

Over the years that I’ve spent in the wedding photography business, I’ve found that one of the biggest obstacles we photographers come up against is time—or rather, the lack of it. Sometimes it’s hard to get the bride, groom, and wedding party on the same page in the little amount of time we have for each specific stage of the shoot. 
One thing really helps me to work around this issue: I make use of a workflow that allows me to quickly position the bride and groom in various poses and get the shots I need in just a few minutes. I can get a ton of great pictures, and at the same time catch up if I’m running behind for any reason, or if I just have a really tight time frame to work with.

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01/01/2020
passion
Life

Finding Your Passion Even When You’re Burnt Out

That was the point when I decided to plan at least one or two creative shoots a month for myself and my soul. When I did that, something changed. I felt more excited. I wanted to run into my studio every morning and just create. After that, I was giving even more to my clients in their sessions and as a whole. I had re-lit that fire I had for photography and creativity. It’s easy to lose ourselves in client work and tell ourselves we don’t have the time or energy to shoot anything for ourselves. I’m here to tell you: shoot for yourself. Collaborate, get weird, or just do something outside of your comfort zone.

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01/01/2020
strip box
Lighting

5 Ways to Use a Strip Box

I love my strip boxes. My go-to’s are the Profoto D2 line and the Profoto 1×6 RFI strip boxes with grids. I use these light modifiers for my maternity, fitness and boudoir clients, because of the control and impact they have when shaping light. You can use them to create gorgeous directional light that focuses on drama. And who doesn’t enjoy an excellent dramatic photograph?

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01/01/2020

Best of Inspirations 2019

Inspiration can come when you least expect it. As photographers, we are visual artists. We express ourselves through our camera and the images we create. Inspirations represents a sampling of our industry and the vision of professional photographers from around the world.
Team Shutter went through the last 12 months of inspirations and voted on the best image of each month. Congratulations to all of our featured photographers this year. Never stop pushing yourselves towards greatness.

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12/19/2019
High-Volume Photography
Shutter Magazine

High-Volume Photography

High-volume photography is one aspect of the industry that seems both intriguing and daunting to a lot of photographers. I will go over why I want to photograph it, the basics of setting up team and individual images, and how to organize your day and files as you jump headfirst into one of the most profitable dollar-to-hour segments of photography out there.

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12/01/2019
10 Steps for Organizing and Conducting a Conceptual Photoshoot
Workflow

10 Steps for Organizing and Conducting a Conceptual Photoshoot

Inspiration doesn’t just arrive on its own. It must be triggered, and there are a lot of different things that can help with that. Working on visual taste and general understanding of art is also important. Try to spend some time looking through the art of any medium, and analyze on a daily basis why it is good and what people like about it.

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12/01/2019
Creating Consistent Images At Every Session
Shutter Magazine

Creating Consistent Images At Every Session

Having a consistent look to your images is the one thing most photographers struggle with, but it’s the best thing to help you in establishing a recognizable brand and attracting your ideal client. Let’s take a look at five things that have helped me establish my signature photography style over the last few years, in order of their importance to me and my brand.

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12/01/2019

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Behind the Shutter

Photography training and education for the modern photographer

In today’s competitive landscape, quality online photography training and education is priceless to your growth. Unfortunately, most publications contain a ton of fluff. No real meat to their content. Not at Behind the Shutter. We are committed to the photography community and improving professional photography by providing current, insightful, and in-depth educational content.

Training topics include photography lighting techniques, photography off-camera flash tips, photography posing guides, photography business concepts and marketing strategies, Facebook for photographers, boudoir and glamour photography training, high-school senior photography concepts, IPS (In-Person Sales) strategies, family photography, Lightroom tutorials, Photoshop how-tos, and much, much more.