Before They Were Famous

As I've been getting nostalgic about my time in the photography industry, I've been digging into my own blog archives and keep finding moments of GOLD (as well as blog posts I probably should have deleted) that help the next generation of photographers understand where and how digital photography careers exploded 13+ years ago!  Before Facebook, before Instagram- when our social outlets to connect online were through public blogs, RSS feeds, and member message boards that no longer exist.  Luckily some blogs are still on archived servers for your time-traveling pleasure.

Thanks to letting all of my own cringe-worthy-archives stay out in the open... I can go back in time through links to other photographers and see where they started out as well!  I think it's important to share archives so people don't think it all happened overnight.  I also think what you'll see in these various archives and journeys is that Photography can be a gateway drug to other forms of entrepreneurship...

Christine Tremoulet - 2000-2018
http://bigpinkcookie.com/2001/
Our very own PhotoLovecat author/editor was blogging before anyone else knew what the heck to do with a blog.  Blogger and perpetual web geek, turned photographer, and now business consultant.  I give Christine mad props for keeping all of her archives online this long.  I mean, her blog history is basically as old as a blogs themselves.  I think the only thing that came before her blogging was AOL and Netscape!

Jules Bianchi - 2005-2019
http://blog.julesbianchi.com/2005/06/
Jules has often flown under the radar in a lot of ways as far as the photography fame stuff goes, but I've always had a soft spot for her ability to be authentically quirky and offbeat.  She's moved her business a few times and shifted focus like many photographers do, but has maintained her blog archives all along to show how she has grown and changed over all these years, and that really helps others understand the journey doesn't happen overnight.

David Jay - 2005-2010
http://opensourcephoto.blogspot.com/2005/
David Jay has been an entrepreneur and tech geek from an early age.  He started out as a wedding photographer who developed community on OpenSourcePhoto as a place to have open conversations in the photography industry (a competitor to Digital Wedding Forum, which was a private paid forum, where OSP was free and open).  This also allowed him to engage in photography industry problems he could solve with tech solutions.  His presence has been controversial among the industry, but it's never stopped him from creating new businesses.  He developed ShowIT, PASS, Shoot & Share, and now Agree.

Corey Ann - 2007-2019
http://coreyann.com/blog/wedding/justin-jenny-122107
Another PhotoLovecat author and editor that has been in the industry and seen it all over the last decade!  Corey Ann has probably maintained one of the most consistent photography industry profiles I know of in the last decade.  Sustaining her presence as an Ohio wedding photographer and really only expanding to hold the line of justice and call people out against doing stupid things in the photography industry through the PhotoStealers blog.  She has dealt with some of the worst sociopaths the industry has seen and somehow continues to maintain a sense of humor about it all!

Christopher Becker aka [b]ecker - 2007-2018
http://blog.thebecker.com/index.cfm/index.cfm/catID/2/StartRow/500
Wedding photographer, photography teacher, and now Keto-Coach, Becker has had a journey that launched in SoCal and now resides in Missouri.  I think Becker himself would be wise enough to say that he didn't mind ruffling a few feathers along the way in the photo industry, and people either loved it or hated it.  What you can't disagree with is that he's hustled with a lot of heart, and often shared what he's learned with others along the way.

Jessica Claire - 2008(?)-2019(?)
http://www.jessicaclaire.net/blog/7165/jessicaclaireartcom-launches
Jessica has hidden the actual dates on her blog and done a very good job of curating her archival content that remains on her current blog, however, based on the context of some early blog posts, I'm guessing the content in this blog started circa 2007/2008, but she also eludes to having another blog prior to this that is no longer available online.  Jessica went from wedding photographer to ShootSac lens bag creator, and now she has the bug for wedding photography again.  Welcome back, Jessica!

Jasmine Star - 2006-2007
http://jasminestarphotography.blogspot.com/2006/02/
Jasmine Star got her first round of fame in the photography industry after David Jay photographed her wedding and Mike Colon started using her as a workshop model for his workshops (perhaps someone else can figure out the order of events on this based on the archives in her blog and David Jay's blog).  She then caught the photography bug herself, attended a lot of workshops, started teaching workshops, made some public social media mistakes, but has continued pushing forward and sharing everything along the way.  She now teaches online courses focused on boosting social media presence.

BluDomain - 2006-2007
https://bludomain.typepad.com/blus_daily_blog/2006/10/index.html
BluDomain was one of the early photography portfolio website providers to crank out a lot of affordable website templates full of good design and solid navigation tools.  They blogged about a lot of "popular" people in the photography industry at the time in order to raise their own profile.  It worked and they secured a lot of photography industry clients in a few short years.  What they've left behind on this archival blog is the treasure chest of where people were and what they were doing in 2006-2007!  Check out their archives to see a lot of familiar names, faces, and photos from 13 years ago!

Are there some archival blogs out there that you think should be added to this list?  Add them to the comments and let's have a nice walk down memory lane together...

Anne Ruthmann helps creatives find smarter solutions to common business problems as a Creative Business Strategist and author of the Pricing Workbook for Creatives.  Her wisdom is steeped in the experience of managing her own creative businesses since 2004.  Stay in touch on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

You Already Have The Answers

While consulting for other small businesses, I've found that most people already have the answers to help them overcome the problems they're currently facing, but for whatever reason they ignore those answers or they convince themselves that someone else has a better answer.  There are so many different ways to solve problems or move forward, but the best solution is the one that will work for YOU.  Fortunately, you probably already know what that is.  Unfortunately, you may be spending so much of your time thinking about, and maybe even trying out, the ways that other people do things that you've confused what works best for you with what works best for other people.

For example, I used to look at a lot of blogs and participate in a lot of forums.  If I did enough of it, eventually one of these things would happen:

• I'd compare myself and my work to that of others and either feel inferior or superior.
• I'd feel like I had to try what everyone else was trying because it was different and seemed "cool".
• I'd have an idea I thought was original and want to try it, but as soon as I found that someone else had tried it, I wouldn't even attempt it because it no longer felt original.
• I'd spend more time focusing on others and what they were doing rather than focusing on what I needed to do.

I've tried to re-enter the world of reading lots of other blogs and message boards, but each time I've spent more than an hour on these things, I start to notice one of the feelings above creeping back in.  In each case, they take me further away from who I am as an artist and as a business person.  I'm not saying there isn't value or inspiration to be found by checking in once in a while to see what's new, or to learn what "everyone" is obsessing about right now; what I'm saying is not to get so consumed by it that you start questioning yourself and your individual style, or that you start judging others rather than just being at peace with the fact that everyone is different and on their own unique journey.

So, how do we solve this problem?

The only way for you to get better at what you do is to listen to yourself.  Listen to what feels right and good for you.  Listen to what you're saying to yourself.  Notice when you say, "I can't" or "I don't know how."  Either find someone who "can" or spend time investing in yourself so that you can "know" for yourself.  Push yourself to try new and different things, but always analyze whether you feel good about what you did, how you did it, and why you did it.  If a task you're doing feels painful or too difficult, it's a clear sign you need to find someone else who enjoys it and thinks it's easy (yes, there are people who love doing the things we hate- like accountants!)  Just because someone else "seems" to be doing it all on their own, doesn't mean that you have to.  You have a unique set of strengths and those are what you need to spend your time focusing on in order to be successful.  

You already have the answers, you just need to take yourself seriously.  If you aren't sure how to listen to yourself, get a mentor, a coach, or a friend to listen to you and be your mirror by sharing what they hear you saying.  Sometimes we dismiss our own thoughts, but they have power and control over us in ways that we often don't realize.  When we hear someone repeat these thoughts back to us- we gain a greater awareness of our own truth and a window into our own best solutions.

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business.  She loves helping others find creative and low-cost solutions to business problems.  Check out her next workshop or free talk at SmarterBusinessWorkshop.com.

Why You Need To Fail

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” - Robert Francis Kennedy

Think about some of the things you've learned how to do in your life: how to ride a bike, how to cook, how to tie your shoelaces. Most likely, you had to fail a few times before you really felt like you could do these things well. I'm still learning how to cook and making plenty mistakes along the way. We were really good at making mistakes and accepting them as children, but somewhere along the trajectory into adulthood, we started to become afraid of making mistakes. For some of us, that fear is so paralyzing that we might not even start to try because we are overwhelmed by the idea of failing.

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.” - Confucius

When money enters the equation, we're even more afraid of failing, because money represents our personal freedom and security. We become bound by our own set of "gold handcuffs." We imagine a certain lifestyle full of material comforts, and then become bound by that idea. We decide we can't afford to fail, which also means, we decide that we can't afford to take risks.

“The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.” - Napoleon Hill

A really good batter with a .300 average, fails 7 out of 10 times at bat. That 30% success rate might not look good on the high school report card, but for an inventor, even a 1% success rate could equal a nobel prize. Successful people become comfortable with the possibility of failure because they don't believe they're failing, they're just learning how to be more successful. If something doesn't work, they investigate how and why it didn't work, and then build on that new knowledge to get closer to successs.

“A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure till he gives up.” - Unknown

There's no replacement for making your own mistakes. You can read for years about what you should avoid and what you should plan for, but there's always so much more to be learned from actually attempting something on your own. Different people yield different results. Rather than trying to go in with all of the answers, allow yourself to uncover the answers as you go. Go in curious and willing to be flexible when things don't work out the way you had hoped. The important part is starting. The hard part is not giving up.

“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.” - Unknown

Anne Ruthmann is a lifestyle & wedding photographer from Boston, MA. She spent 10 years practicing marketing & management in corporate and non-profit businesses before pursuing her passion for photography as an independent small business. She loves helping others find creative and low-cost solutions to business problems. Follow her on Twitter to see her daily adventures and thoughts.

Finding the IDEAL Clients and Freedom!

I originally wrote this post a year ago over at the Starting a Wedding Photography Business Group on Flickr. A year later, it still rings very true for me. It was truly a moment of revelation, and changed my business - and I hope it helps you too.

No, no - I don't have magic tips for you to help you book the ideal client. But I do have a revelation to share. Here it is: Not everyone has to like you, and you don't have to market to everyone out there!

When I started out, I thought I wanted to Book the High End Bride. I had dreams of $$$$$ and I wanted them. I live in Houston, and there are plenty of rich people having huge weddings.

Then I booked what I considered my first high end wedding. When the wedding day came, I realized that I really didn't click with them that much. Not because they were rich or extravagant, but ... just because. I had sold my work and not myself. We didn't connect on a personal level. I was uncomfortable the whole time, and I feel that it shows in the photos when I look at them. They miss that certain spark for me. (The bride loves them, and that is what matters in the end.)

My High End Bride dreams came crashing down.

I realized something. If I am giving up my Saturdays for people, it needs to be for people that like ME. Truly ME. Not just my work, but me as a person. I took a chance and moved my blog to the front of my site - and instantly had a great response to it! As a result, I feel like my clients are now better pre-qualified to know if they will like me and my style, and we work so much better on the big day.

That was when it hit me. I don't need EVERYONE to like me. I ideally want to book 20-30 weddings a year. That means that only 40-60 people need to like me. In a city with millions, I only *want* 30 couples to discover me and want to work with me each year. I'm not a wedding studio, I don't have tons of associate photographers. It is just me.

I can't tell you how much freedom I felt when I realized that. Here I thought I needed everyone to like me and want to work with me -- when the reality is I only want the IDEAL clients.

Once I clued in to all of this, I went from booking lower packages to booking my higher packages, and I've continued to raise my rates. More importantly then the money, I have consistently been working with clients that are my ideal clients.

My ideal client: someone slightly geeky who likes blogs and highly values their wedding photography, probably much more than anything else on their budget list, or second after the venue/food. They like my style, and more importantly, they like me. They are laid back and fun to be around, and willing to try out crazy things. We laugh a lot at our initial meeting. We leave feeling like we've made new friends.

I've booked another wedding with a large budget since I first wrote this a year ago. (Matter of fact, I booked it probably 2 months after I wrote this post.) But the client booked me because they liked ME. The fact that they pulled out all the stops for the wedding wasn't the issue. They valued their photography. It wasn't another item on their to-do list for wedding planning. We connected, and I still get that warm fuzzy feeling when I look through their photographs.

Not everyone has to like me. Not everyone is the perfect client for me to work with. But when I do find those clients? It is magic. To me, ALL of my couples are high end, because I think they are the most fabulous people in the world.

What moments of clarity have you had that have brought you freedom?

Christine Tremoulet is a Houston, Texas Hot Mama Boudoir photographer and wants you to have a Business of Awesome. She also runs Wholly Matrimony, a destination wedding blog. She is a creative geek, having blogged since 2000 at BigPinkCookie. When she isn't taking photos or knitting, she is busy devouring all the info related to Marketing & Social Media and its powers that she can find online. Follow her on Twitter.

Balancing the Wheel of Life

When I saw this post recently on my friend Anne-Marie's blog, Soap & the Finer Things in Life, I immediately asked her if I could share it with you, and she was kind enough to say yes! I've known Anne-Marie since 1998 and she has always inspired me so much with her wise business advice - she was the first person that truly taught me how to price for profit, and we all know how important that is!

Anne-Marie learned about this from her friend Lynn Giuliani, a member of her Mastermind Group. Using this will give you a great start to balance your life to help you set your goals and priorities for 2009.

The excercise is simple.

1. Draw a circle (or if you're artistically challenged like me, trace a circle)

2. Divide your circle into 6 parts. Try to make them equal.

3. Label them: Financial, Physical, Social, Family, Mental and Spiritual



4. Take a few minutes to decide how you feel about each of these categories in your life. What is your level of satisfaction in each of these areas? Only you can determine what your level of satisfaction is. Your idea of how successful or happy you are will not be the same as your sister's, neighbor's or brother's. That's okay. This is an exercise just for you and you don't need to share it with anyone. Shade in your piece of the pie to your level of satisfaction.

5. Cut out your wheel. Does it roll? If it doesn't roll, think of the area that your wheel is flat in. Is this an area you'd like to see improvement in? Make some goals around it.



Finding the balance in life is a constant negotiation with all six of these areas. Doing this quick and easy exercise will help you determine where to put your energies and focus towards in 2009.

Thanks again to Anne-Marie for sharing her post & photos with us. She is writing a series of post to start off the new year with business advice for soapmakers - but I promise, there are some gems in there that can help us all - no matter what business we're in! Be sure to check it out!

Christine Tremoulet is a Houston, Texas Hot Mama Boudoir photographer and wants you to have a Business of Awesome. She also runs Wholly Matrimony, a destination wedding blog. She is a creative geek, having blogged since 2000 at BigPinkCookie. When she isn't taking photos or knitting, she is busy devouring all the info related to Marketing & Social Media and its powers that she can find online. Follow her on Twitter.

tipbook for brides

After photographing a lot of weddings I have been witness to some things that didn't go as planned and things that worked really well. I have also come to realize what things help me in getting the best photographs possible for my couples. Our experiences as photographers can be helpful to our future couples.

I always tell my brides to give themselves more time then they think to get into their wedding dress. One wedding I was photographing the bride listened to my advice and started to slip into her dress with plenty of time before the ceremony even though she only had to zip up her dress and go. As her bridesmaids were zipping up her dress we all heard a terrible noise followed by the realization that the zipper on her dress broke. Thankfully I had a mini sewing kit in my bag with me and because we had started to get the bride in her dress early we had plenty of time to sew her into her dress. The bride even joked "well now we know why I got such a great deal on my dress". My point is because we were prepared with time and a sewing kit what could of been a crisis ended up being a funny story for the bride to share with everyone at the reception. After that experience I found myself telling all my couples when they first met with me to bring along an emergency kit with them to the bride's dressing room stuffed with things like scissors, a sewing kit, crazy glue, advil, stain remover, bandaids, safety pins, an extra set of tuxedo buttons in case someone forgot their set (yep that has happened too).


This year I worked with a designer to create a tipbook for my brides. The tipbook is illustrated with my photographs and 15 of my tips for brides to help them have their day go smoothly and for me to get the best photographs possible.

An example of one tip is my personal pet peeve that gorgeous wedding gowns show up on plastic hangers, most brides love to have a picture of their dress hanging, so I encourage brides to bring along a pretty hanger for their dress because I find it makes a big difference in the final photograph. It is something that most brides would not of known to think of and this year I have been thrilled with the variety of beautiful hangers that I have seen.


I live in a very cold climate and often shoot winter weddings. I love getting my brides out in the snow for pictures and have always encouraged them to bring along a pair of white winter boots to wear under their dress. In most cases the dresses are so long you don't even see them and it makes the bride so much more comfortable for picture time. I have also had brides trek out to the photo location in their winter boots and then slip on their wedding shoes once we have them in place but having those boots makes all the difference in getting a bride to spend more then 5 minutes outside with you for pictures. It's important that they feel comfortable. Since including that tip in my book many of my brides have excitedly told me about the fun white winter boots they have found and often they want a picture of them because they become another style element to their day.


We all know that the more relaxed and comfortable a wedding couple is the better results you will be able to get with your photographs. Put your experience and knowledge to work and think of those tips you find yourself sharing with your couples and put together a little booklet for them with your ideas for making their wedding day go smoothly and allowing you to get the best photographs possible. I know my brides have appreciated the booklets and I have appreciated how much easier it has made my day.

The Joy of Risk

I wanted to share some personal thoughts that have been spinning around in my head lately. I hope they reach the eyes of someone who needs to see them...

If someone had told me before I started that I'd have to build my business three times, in three different states, over the course of three years, I would have laughed an unnatural and ridiculous laugh and then looked them dead in the face to say they were crazy. Yet, somehow I've managed to survive. Each change has brought unexpected good things which I never could have anticipated or planned for, and the future just keeps looking brighter.

There are a lot of naysayers to tell you that you can't do this, or shouldn't do that, and to them I say... phooey! Make your own path. Do what YOU love. Your passion will shine through and people will find you no matter where you are. Use risks as an opportunity to learn something new. Give yourself permission to not know everything, to be under-prepared, to make mistakes, to be vulnerable, and to learn something new from it. Take a leap on pure faith that things will work out for the best. Allow room for something unexpected to happen in your life- you might just be surprised by what it brings to your doorstep.

It's really amazing how the universe steps in to catch you... but only after you've already stepped off the cliff (figuratively, of course!) I still have fears about what the future holds... but I've been learning to spend more time focused on the possibilities rather than the potential pitfalls. Fear can be so paralyzing, but the lack of fear is infinitely powerful. - Anne

If my words aren't enough, here are a few more...
Famous Failures
The Last Lecture
Wisdom
Asking for What You Want
Make Some Damn Mistakes