Reflections from First Year in Business

It is amazing to me that I have been in business a full year as Stephanie Ford Photography! Such an amazing learning experience. I won't say that I have loved every single moment of it. But I have loved most of my first year as a photographer. During this first year in business, I have done 16 weddings and roughly 14 engagements/family/senior/styled shoots (from Jan to Sept). It has been a busy year!

Before you look at those numbers and think "yes, that is busy", there is more. I also work a full time job Mon-Fri as an optician. And I pet sit on the side. There are times I've wondered if I had too much going on. Well, in all honesty, sometimes I probably did. This last week/month, I've been looking back on this year and thinking about what went well, what could be improved, and how to implement changes for the upcoming year. (Yes, that thought process did extend beyond my business.),

The #1 question I've been asking myself regarding improvements for the upcoming year is "how can I help my brides more?" With this question in mind, I have been creating tools to help my 2019 brides when planning their wedding day. These tools include a more well-rounded questionnaire and example timelines that will help them plan for portraits that they can treasure. Aside from these tools, I also plan to start a "tips for brides" weekly blog (in addition to the weekly blog already happening). Look for the first tip blog next week.

One my photography mentors, Katelyn James, suggests that each photographer should do a screenshot of one of the first weddings they ever did next to a current one. This is to help each of us to remember how far we have come. The pic at the top of this post is a timeline of some beach weddings I've shot. On the far left is the first beach wedding I ever second shot, followed by two from this year. The contrast amazes me. As a believer in life-long learning, I plan to keep growing and learning more this next year! :)

#tipsforbrides