My most important business lesson: "There's nothing special about you."

My photography business turns 5 years old this month.  The past 4 years have been full-time, work my ass off, cry alot, lose a ton of sleep over type of business building years and I have learned so much from all of it.  Fortunately, only a few of those lessons have been painful.  But one in particular was down right nasty and it has forever changed what I do.

3.5 years ago.  The email came a day or two after I had sent her the gallery of her newborn session.  It had been a tough session.  The baby was wide awake and fussy.  I was still really green at newborn photography and hadn't known to heat the room, play white noise, insist on a younger baby (nowadays I only do 5- 10 day olds because I know from experience that they sleep deepest and are easiest to pose).  But I truly worked my ass off to comfort him, and I kept my composure the entire two hours and was happy with the end results and during edits, I remember thinking to myself, "wow, that's actually pretty good considering......"

But then the client's reply to the gallery came and it started off with "There is nothing special about you or your work.  You were not worth the money......"

My heart stopped.  My jaw dropped.  My face burned.  The tears started flowing before I could even finish reading her nasty rant towards me.  It all pierced deeply into my heart and soul and it hurt like hell. I cried for two days.  No exaggeration.  2 days!  I questioned everything about me, my skills, my business.  Was she right?  Was I a non-talented hack with no skill, no ability to do the job that I had so badly wanted for years?  One that I had, unlike most in the industry, gone to school for, practised and loved since childhood, treated it like a business and gotten licensed and paid taxes on every year because I wanted it to be a legitmate career, not a fun side hobby I did on weekends?

I considered packing it all in during those next few dark days.  Maybe she was right?  Maybe I was just kidding myself.  I didn't know what I was doing.  I was no good.  But then I started thinking about my reply to her and I looked back at all of my previous client responses to their galleries and reviews on my page and they all said things like "amazing work!" "beautiful!"  "love it!"  "can't wait to work with you again!"  And it got me thinking, maybe she wasn't right.  No one else had ever said negative things about my work before - especially not such mean and nasty things like she had.  I knew that I had done the best job I could have and I had been proud of the work  I had delivered to her. I had done my job and I decided that I needed to stand strong behind it.

I replied that I was sorry she felt that way (I truly was!) but I didn't feel that way about what I had done for her - I had worked really hard - and all of my previous clients before her didn't feel that way either.  I had never received such negative feedback before and although I was sorry she felt I was not worth the money she had spent on the session,  I would not be refunding her.  I did offer her a free future session, but I knew she wouldn't ever be back.  I was pretty sure nothing I did would ever make her happy (in all walks of our lives, there are just people like that) and I made peace with that because I realized that I HAD made so many other clients happy before her.

Although I was really concerned that she would go on to tell all of her friends not to come to me, I never heard from her again and my business didn't suffer at all afterwards.  In fact, it only got stronger and better. Why?  Because I learned to separate her words from ME and apply them to my business.

In an over-saturated industry with such a preceived minimal requirement for entry (how many stay-at-home moms do you know who have bought a DSLR, set it to auto and created a facebook page with "my name photography" and voila, are instant photographers over-night?  Too many to bother to count, I am sure), the truth is that a real artist and business person needs to set themselves apart from all of the mediocrity out there.  Because honestly so much of what is being offered in the photography industry is really nothing special and all of those over-night  photographers disappear within one or two years because there is nothing special about what they have to offer and they are quickly and easily replaced.   But me, I am still here and what sets me apart is that I have specialized (in newborns and children), and studied and studied some more and practised, and stretched myself with personal projects (my first photo book, Scarcity Project, was published last fall and available on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Scarcity-Project-Melanie-Moore-Photography/dp/1364951711/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470597876&sr=1-4&keywords=scarcity+project ) and am constantly striving to be more professional, to be better than I was last year, last month, last week (!) because I love my job and I want it to continue to be successful and fulfilling in my life.  No matter what it takes.  My goal is always to be a better photographer and run a more successful business than I did yesterday.

"There's nothing special about you" is no longer my kryptonite.  It's my strength, my mantra.  I reflect on it often and have even thought of making it into a plaque for my wall so that I can look up at it when I am editing to remind myself to keep going, keep working at it, keep learning, keep getting better.

There is a cliched motivation poster that says, "Life like a photograph; you develop from the negatives."  In this digital age, most people (even some photographers) don't  understand this anymore, but in this case, it is very true.  I am developing.  I am working on creating that little bit of "special" in my work, everyday.

~ Stay Gold 

The BIG Change

September.  It's 3 months away, but lately it's been all I can think about.  September.  The month the kids go back to school after a long, hot summer and the month my life will change, I mean REALLY CHANGE after 9 years of being a work from home mom, doing jobs that allowed me to both stay at home with the kids and still work with my kids at home (daycare, preschool, and for the past 2 years, photography). 

My baby will be going into Grade 1 in the fall, meaning for the first time in 9 years, I will NOT have ANY little ones at home with me during the day, 5 days a week!  I am sad to think my little guy will be gone at school all week, but at the same time, I am thrilled to think of all of the undistracted, 100% focused work time that will be sitting in front of me.  For the past 2 years, I have grown my photography biz into a full-time gig, while still being stay at home mom, the volunteer school mom, the field trip mom and having my youngest home with me 5 days a week (he went to kindergarten 2 full days a week this year).  It has always been a juggling act - mommyhood and self-employment. 

About 4 years ago, when I was deep into childcare at home with my baby, my toddler and 8 daycare kids in my care 5 days a week, I made a promise to myself that one day soon, I would have a MORE CREATIVE LIFE again!  Before the kids came, I was a published poet, short-story author and volunteered as a crew member on independent film productions in Winnipeg.  I majored in Film Production at Confederation College in Thunder Bay, Ontario and dreamed of being a photographer and screenwriter. 

Then the kids came and, well, all of that got put on hold.  Not a sad story, just a typical one for moms of young kids.  Nine years later, I am ready to press that "PLAY" button again and crank it up to 10.

So, what does this mean for Stay Gold Photography?  Well, it means that I am going tp put my energies 100% into doing what I've always wanted to do in photography - namely specializing in Children's and NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHY.  Yes, NEWBORNS!!  It's taken me 2 years of self-directed study and practise, but I finally feel confident in my abilities to work with and pose newborns.  It's been a long and trying two years, lol, but these past 2 weeks, after doing 5 awesome newborn sessions, I have finally hit my stride and I am going for it.  I will be converting my little studio space into a more parent-friendly and comfortable place and will be investing in more studio lights and newborn props and accessories. 

Newborn photography is not for the faint of heart. Those darling little ones are not always so quiet and sleepy as they appear in their photos (when they are done right).  I have alway found Newborns to be my most challenging area of work, but it has always been a challenge that I have wanted and have strived to improve at, so I am beyond thrilled to be able to put so much more time and energy into that art-form (and yes, good newborn photography is definately a fine art!). 

My studio, in the fall, will become my prime work place.  I really just prefer the studio so much more when there are no variables with weather or lighting to contend with.   I will continue to do Children's Minis in the studio, as well I will continue to do Children's Theme Sessions, which I LOVE!  Fine Art Fairies, Spring Fairies, Woodland Fairies and Lost Boys, Rock Stars, Vintage Boys, and SuperHeroes, will all continue.  Cake Smashes will also continue to be a specialty of mine, as they are just so much fun, and, I will continue to do studio Maternity sessions, because I really do love photographing the whole bump to baby transition.

What will NOT continue, and what the other big change is coming this September, is thatI will no longer be doing family sessions.  I have 4 family sessions booked for September already and those will be my last ones.  Family photography has always been a bit of a struggle for me, and having to always do it outside (because my studio is too small) has never really been ideal for me.  There are just always too many factors to deal with.  I will, however, continue to offer Mom and Me minis outdoors in May, because I do believe it is important to get mom in the picture too.

So that's my big news:  I will be specializing in NEWBORNS, working almost 100% in-studio (except for Theme Sessions and Mom & Me Sessions) and will no longer do family photography by the fall.  

Stay Gold Photography will now be exclusively CHILDREN'S and NEWBORN PHOTOGRAPHY!  

I am SO excited to begin the transition into this new realm for Stay Gold Photography.  Being able to live and work my passion has been the best thing in the world for me for these past 2 amazing years.  Thank you so much to those of you who have followed my work, supported me, and hired me to photograph your children and families!  Without you, there wouldn't be a Stay Gold.

- Melanie Ever Moore

Staying Gold

Nothing Gold Can Stay

By: Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay. 

You either read that poem in high school English class, or if you grew up in the 80's like me, you might remember the movie The Outsiders and a dying Johnny (Ralph Macchio) in a hospital bed, telling C. Thomas Howell to, "Stay Gold, Ponyboy."  

The poem, like childhood, is short but memorable; full of beauty, joy, innocence. It strikes a chord in all of us.  We've all been a kid.  Some of us may want to still be a kid or at least, live like one, free of stress, worry, self-doubt.  Of course, we can't.  Once grown, and full of responsibilities, we can never go back to those days.  But we can remember them, preserve them, with photos.  

Photos of our childhood can transport us, take us right back to those moments before, during and after the shutter click.  My favourite childhood photos are of Christmas mornings, bed-headed and full of huge smiles, wrapping paper littered around me and my brother, our new awesome toys in our hands.  For me, it was usually Star Wars toys, Cabbage Patch Kids or, when I was 7, Tippy Toes doll, a plastic doll with curly blond hair who held onto the back of the pink plastic stroller she came with and when you pushed the stroller, her dimpled plastic legs moved up and down as she walked with you.  Those photos are like gold for me.

Most people naturally grow out of childhood into adulthood - nothing gold can stay.  But for some, it's taken away.  My childhood came to a rather abrupt stop when I was 12 and my parents had an ugly divorce.  I lost not just my dad and my brother, but my whole extended family on my Dad's side, because of it.  They dropped out of my life for many years and still, 26 years later, most of them consider me an outsider from the family.  The photos of my life, my childhood, before the divorce are that much more important to me because of it and that's why I choose the name of my business to reflect the value I put on what I do and why I do it.  

Preserving childhood is what I like to think that I do with every session, every image I create.  Be it an image of a baby, a child, an expectant mom or a family, I watermark those photos with my business name and my wish for them to "Stay Gold." 

Back to the Blog! 1 year later...

I am a bad blogger.   Seriously.  Bad.  1+ years in business, 2 blog posts.  And the last one was nearly a year ago.   So, it's time to kick my blog writing / posting butt into gear and get this thing going again. I  don't know how many people are going to take the time to read this, but it's a start and it's definately worth my time, anyway, to write it.

Stay Gold turned 1 recently, some time at the beginning of September.  I don't really have the actual date (!!!).  It was at some point shortly after moving to Whitecourt from Terrace, BC that I realized my super sucessful Montessori preschool wasn't going to amount to nothing in Alberta.  Too many other options - CHEAPER options - for preschool, and no one seemed to have ever heard of Montessori in Whitecourt. My dream of continuing my 2 classes / 4 days a week / 12 adorable 3 & 4 year olds coming into my cute little preschool every week, kinda crashed and burned.  It was hard to accept.  Especially after working so hard in Terrace to get qualified, to get set up, to get interest going.  I had just had graduation ceremonies for my first 2 classes, and already filled all 12 spots for the next school year when we got word in June that my husband had been transfer to Whitecourt.  Hubby even house-shopped with a space for the preschool in mind.  Lucky for me, that space, with big windows and beautiful hardwood flooring would also work perfectly for a studio...

Fast-forward 1 year, and here I am with that preschool classroom converted into a studio, booking 3 - 4 months in advance, 20 bookings a month, wonderful clients who come often and often bring their friends too.  Deciding on photography was a no-brainer for me.  When my husband met me, I was a film student making student films and processing my black and white rolls of film in darkrooms.  I had always been more than a hobbyist, and unlike most photographers these days, when my kids arrived, I put photography on the back-burner, realizing that I wouldn't have the time or creative energy to really fully enjoy it.  As they got older, and less, well, time-consuming (!!), I got back into photography, my mom bought me a  Canon Rebel  (and excellent starter DSLR, by the way.  I shoot now with a Canon 60D and LOVE it), and I went back at it in a more serious sense about 4 years ago.  My kids were my models. Every weekend we would come up with concepts, gather up costumes and head out for a shoot.  They were very willing subjects back then (not so much now) and it was always just for fun.  Some of those weekend model shoot photos are still my favourites and are hanging on a few walls in my house.   I started posting those photos to my facebook page and people started noticing them.  At first, they asked, "who is doing those photos of your kids?  They are awesome."   And then, it was, "would you mind taking my kids' photos?"

One of my early portraits of my daughter and still one of my favourites .

I never thought I could do photography for a living. It never crossed my mind.  I really didn't think it would be possible to make a consistent income from it.  This probably stems from the fact that like most photographers, I started out working for free to build my portfolio and that leap from doing it for free to charging to do it, is a big one (but SO important - I'm planning on a future blog about this very topic soon).  The other thing that made me question being able to do it for a living, especially in my area, is the sheer number of hobbyists out there who are doing it as a weekend gig, saturating the market with low priced, and often low quality, photography.  As a result of all of that, my first 6 months in Whitecourt were slow, but it was steady and always working hard to provide high quality images and customer service, as well as being unique from the others, in that I started doing theme sessions for children (faires and Vintage Boys), really made me stand out and soon potential clients were no longer asking "how much for a session?", but rather, "when can you book me in?"

Just over 1 year in business, my studio is one of only 2 licensed photography studios in town and last month I finally gained membership to NAPCP, the National Association of Professional Child Photographers, a professional organization that I am so proud to be a part of.  My calendar is filled up for the rest of 2013 and I already have bookings for January and March.  1 year ago, I really didn't think any of this was possible.  I figured I would continue to do photography as a low-paying hobby on the weekends and have to get  a  "real job" (eg: consistently paying) during the week.  So glad to have been proven wrong.  It's at the point now where I have been seriously considering hiring an assistant in the upcoming months just to help me keep up.  And that is a wonderful thought!

Not all of my posts are going to be this long - I had a year to catch up on!  If you are still with me to this point, thanks for reading, and please come back.  I want this to be more than just about my sessions.  I want to write about the business side of photography, which I am always learning about; about the technical side, the creative side and the emotional side of photography; as well as a bit about me and my great-great grandpa who was an amazing photographer with some truly creative editing skills - and did it all decades before there was such a thing as Photoshop.  Can't wait to post his pics from the early 1900's for you to see!

For now, here are some of my early weekend fun sessions with my kids that led me back into photography and helped me get to where I am now.  These were all shot with my Rebel, with the kit lens and edited with Picnik (haha!) - but hey, we all have to start somewhere!! 

My very first fairy session - with my daughter, 3 years ago.

My first Vintage Boy session with my son from 3 years ago - that's his great-grandpa's camera.

Stay Gold Photography: The return of the K. Family

Cianna brought her beautiful 6 week old son to my studio when I first opened up in Whitecourt, AB, at the end of September.  3 weeks later, she brought the rest of her beautiful family for an outdoor session at the Forest Interpretive Center.  How happy was I to have a returning customer so soon ??  I was thrilled, of course!  And totally honoured to take their family portraits!

Rainbow Baby (first maternity session for Stay Gold)

Rainbow Baby.......

I hadn't heard of the term Rainbow Baby until I met Amanda and her beautiful family.  It is a term used for a baby who arrives after one has been lost.  Amanda shared her heartbreaking loss of her son with me and I thought for days of how best to help honour her son and the new arrival at this session.  I didn't want to go with the traditional (and over-done) heart-shaped fingers over belly routine, and since it was my first session - and an outdoor one - I wanted to make it a beautiful one with lots of golden light.  Fortunately, the weather was beautiful that evening and as the sun was setting, we did our rainbow baby session.   I feel so honoured to have been apart of this wonderful family's life in this way and can't wait to hear of rainbow baby's arrival in November.