In this episode Oh Shoot! podcast, Cassidy Lynne and Laurken Kendall share advice on how to channel your inner creative as a photographer!
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In this episode of the podcast, we have a special guest Laurken Kendall! Some of you might remember her she was in a podcast episode about 2 years ago I would say. Now she’s back and in this episode, we will go over how to channel your inner creative!
Channel Your Inner Creative
For People Who Don’t Know You, Who is Laurken?
I’ll start at the beginning I’ve been a wedding photographer for 10 years, also I dabble in portrait photography, and I have three children. I homeschool my children I do that in tandem with my destination wedding photography business. I also have an online education membership for photographers called “the mother photographer” . Also, I live on a farm a 1300 Acres wheat farm so I spend my fall either Trucking wheat like Monday through Wednesday. And then hopping on a plane Thursday through Sunday to shoot weddings. And coming back and doing it again it’s an amazing interesting life that I lead so I get to kind of go out into the world and photograph weddings and be super social and then you know crawl back into my hovel in the country an hour from anywhere and exist you know quietly which is nice!
What Initially Sparked Your Love for Photography?
Got started back in 2013 I was pregnant with my second son. And we actually were in a lawsuit with my mother-in-law who evicted us from home. She evicted us from our farm it was a whole nasty thing. But it took us two years or almost three years to get everything back. But at that time my husband lost his job and like I said I was pregnant with my second child. I had just stopped working my job which was managing a Thai restaurant. I just didn’t know what to do with myself and I’d always taken pictures. Like everybody always takes pictures it’s you know how we preserve our life as human beings. But I had people asking me on Facebook as I was posting pictures of my kids. Like do you want to would you take pictures of my family? And then that happened to me, and we just lost everything. We were on food stamps, and I was having a baby on you know like State Medical. And it was a very scary time because I didn’t know what was going to happen with our life. So I decided to start my own little side job. And it was just going to be to pick up some extra money. So I started taking pictures of people’s families and then I wondered if I could do a wedding. So I got on Craigslist and you will be shocked to see how many people are asking for free wedding photos on Craigslist! But I got on there and I took like two weddings off of there. And I learned so much and I was like I think I could do this!
Channel Your Inner Creative
What Inspires Your Work?
I am an absorber, so I take inspiration from reading books, listening to music, and watching movies. I watch a lot of artistic documentaries, I also love to read autobiographies and biographies. It’s something about relating to other artists and understanding how their minds work and how they view art.
What Techniques / Things Do You Do to Help You Capture Stories?
I go crazy with the prep work I often feel that as a photographer. As business owners most of our mistakes happen before we even shoot. The client like how we’re having a disconnect maybe why we’re not creating the work we want to create. I feel like most of my work is happening post-shoot. And it’s important to me to be able to really get to know the people that I’m photographing. So I think it starts when they’re looking at my website the language that I’m using you know. How I’m positioning myself as a photographer artist and not a service. like I serve yes, I mean that’s what we do we serve others, but I don’t ever want to be a service. That’s my personal mission in life is to never get hired as a service. So in the prep time, first of all, I meet with every single client via FaceTime. I have to make sure they’re not Dead behind the eyes. I’ve said this 100 times but it’s something that is true to everything that I do. I never want to end up working for somebody who makes me hate the thing that I love. And as entrepreneurs, we have the ability to be very discerning about the kind of people that we’re allowing access to us and it’s kind of it’s really unique I think to what we do. Photography is unique especially wedding photography, we spend a lot of time with these people we’re going to this hugely important day you know.
Channel Your Inner Creative
What Mindsets Have Been the Biggest Game Changers For You In Your Business??
there are two things, I think artistically what I was talking about earlier. Like not needing a reason to do anything you know? Like not needing a reason to put shoes in a bathtub, just feeling like you don’t have to explain your work to anybody because you don’t owe them an explanation. That’s how I look at it I also think that I guess it’s twofold because this applies to RM business I think that changing and evolution are so critical in art and what we do is I consider it art very much art. So, to feel like we have to be stuck in an edit or a style is insanity you’re literally growing your life experience, and the way that you view the world is changing. Your clients are going to change with you! There’s so much that goes into that like doing a check-in every year to see if your clients are still in alignment with who you are as an artist. I always make sure that I’m allowing myself the room that I need to grow and there’s like a gut check that goes there, are you putting yourself in a box, are you saying no to the things that you are feeling instinctually drawn toward because you’re scared that it’s going to pull clients from you? those are the moments when I’m like we must go forward we must just chase our nose because following our nose is part of art and just whatever we’re interested and I let that just carry me away.
How Do You Find / Book Travel Clients?
I always say, show your work! My first destination wedding was for my friend’s friend. And they were getting married in Mexico so I literally pitched myself and they were like, we would love for you to shoot our wedding. And I said to them that I was going to do it for the travel only! But I knew it was going to be an amazing wedding. I wrote Bride’s magazine a cold email I didn’t know anybody there and I was like I have this client I sent the Instagram. And I was like here’s her designs here’s how she describes her wedding I’m shooting it here at this venue and I pitched it. They said send it back to us once you have the photos and we’ll look at it. And so I did that like as soon as I got back! I edited them, I sent them a preview gallery and they actually wrote me and were like we would love to print this wedding in our January issue and I was like oh my God! But I always tell that story because not one single of those things would have happened if I had not been like I’m just gonna ask and don’t be afraid of no I’m just not afraid of a no!
Channel Your Inner Creative
Questions from listeners
What Are Your Thoughts on Comparison & Mindset Around Imposter Syndrome? How Do You Move Past It?
imposter syndrome is one of those things that we’re all afflicted by first. So don’t feel like you’re alone in that. I think that the way to move past that is first of all hide everybody who makes you feel bad about yourself. I’m sorry I don’t care if you need to mute your friends a little while! Mute your friends if it’s bad for your mental health. If you’re not feeling good just turn it off but also it’s cool to understand that nobody’s thinking about you either as much as you think people are thinking about or judging your work nobody gives a shit. When you’re posting to social media it has a 4-second life cycle before people have moved on to the next thing, so try not to overthink what you’re sharing I truly am so big about choosing a different thought so like when I start to go down those lines I do remember that thoughts are optional and I don’t have to sit there and allow myself to feel terrible about my work. It feels good to have any sort of forward motion in those moments. Because I think that if anything’s going to cause stagnation it’s going to be feeling like you’re not good enough. But remember that literally everybody feels like they’re not good enough no matter what level of success they have.
Do You Use Natural Light, Or Do You Use Other Forms of Lighting?
I use all the lighting, whatever I feel like at the moment. That’s what I’m going to use I don’t have like a studio setup. I’m not going to be carrying around like a softbox or any of that. But I love my pro panel plus, it’s like a little video rectangle light that I use. It goes like I don’t even know how many colors but it runs the entire color spectrum essentially. So you can do like super funky I love to bust it out at the end of the night. Like I love to put it on my people when they’re dancing. I like to put like a hot pink light on them while they’re dancing or something like that. It’s fun but otherwise, I am all about getting rid of barriers to productivity and to work. And the more tools I have the more I find I get you know like analysis paralysis once again. So I just make sure I have like a couple things maybe a fun filter in my bag and then that other colored light that I was just talking about. And my flash if I want to! In conclusion, I LOVE natural light!
Channel Your Inner Creative
What Is Your Favorite Type of Shoot Other Than Weddings?
I really love a couple’s shoot that’s where I got started. And that’s what really set me on fire. When I started photographing, I liked families, I liked seniors were fine, but I loved it once I started photographing couples I was like this is really what I wanted to do, I love couples.
How Do You Go About Turning Away Clients Who Don’t Align with You / Your Work?
I tell them I’m not the best person to serve your needs here are some recommendations. Unless they’re totally soulless and I hate them. Then I don’t give them any recommendations and I say bon voyage good day.
Channel Your Inner Creative
What’s Your Favorite Thing About Mother Photographer?
Oh God the people in Mother Photographer are awesome! like the way that the community supports each other that has nothing to do with me but it’s amazing also the nickname Mopho because the brand is Mother Photographer. So it’s a capital M and then you like you know pH. So, they call themselves The Mophos and it just stuck like I don’t know who started it. But it wasn’t me and so now it’s like even the brand. I just had some rebranding done and it’s going to come out in a couple of weeks but the little stamp says Mophos on it which is super cute I just think it’s such a cool Outlet and I can share my thoughts openly and it’s good, I really wanted a place where people felt like they had access to me and I felt like I was actually having real conversations instead of feeling like the figurehead of something you know what I mean so that was critically important to me.
Craziest Story / Craziest Thing to Happen to You While Shooting?
at the end of one of my weddings, I think it was in the last five years I’m not going to be specific but one of the parents a father came up to me at the end and I was letting them pay in cash which don’t do that unless it’s your personal choice! but anyways I let them pay me in cash at the wedding and normally I tell everybody to make sure you’re collecting payments you know way in advance as you should but this was a rare situation. So I let them pay me in cash and he hands me an envelope of cash and he leans over my ear this is at the end of the reception right, he leans over and he whispers in my ear there’s more money upstairs in my hotel room where that came from if you let me f* you and he did say the f word and I was like I can’t even remember what I said but I know that I had no expression I was totally like disgusted. It was just like a dirty old man but there is a level that I’m working at like some of the parents are extremely wealthy and he had been that kind of guy that was flashing all weekend long because it was a three-day thing, and I never told my couple about that. I think I said to him that’s not enough and with just like a totally flat deadpan face and then I called my husband.
Show Notes
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