“Action trumps fear.”
Justin and Mary “What’s Next?”
Michael surprised me with a ticket to Justin & Mary’s “What’s Next?” workshop in DC a couple of days ago. Wow.
I have such an amazing husband!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He just called me up and said “Guess what? That Justin and Mary workshop? You’re going.”
I knew many talented people were going and I was super excited to join them and learn from Justin & Mary, an amazing husband-wife team based out of Connecticut.
My friend Meagan (a very talented photographer based out of Richmond) and I carpooled from Richmond through pouring rain and the most challenging winter weather (for Virginia).
It was cool meeting the instantly recognizable Katelyn James, an inspirational photographer from Richmond whose blog I have been following for a really long time. She’s something of a celebrity on the East Coast in the photography world.Definitely had to get a picture taken with her before the workshop started. I also got to meet the amazing David Jay, photographer, artist and entrepreneur.
It was great seeing wonderful friend-photographers there; photographers LOVE “photographer’s talk”.
The room was packed. You could feel the talent in the air.
Mary got on stage and she totally surprised me. I expected a loud, really bubbly personality with in your face confidence. She was confident, but down to earth, real.
We got to hear a bit about their backgrounds and and tied it to what the“What’s Next” tour is all about: making dreams become reality and how to tell love stories. We talked about branding, marketing etc etc… but all of those aspects, while very important to the business of photography, are nothing if you lose focus on what makes our profession so important.
“All those dreams you’ve been meaning to chase? They live out there in cold, uncertain and new.” (Mary Marantz)
What keeps us from making our dreams become reality? What are the steps to making them come true?
What is your photography all about?
– Mary got down deep real fast.
What moved me most was her grandparent’s love story. How their wedding picture has not only inspired them as wedding photographers, but has been an important part of their lives. They showed us a portrait of them on their 65th (or was it the 64th?) wedding anniversary, holding the image from their wedding. A few weeks later, as the grandfather was on his death bed, he kept holding on to this very picture.
“Did the photographer know what an important part of this love story this picture was going to be, when he pressed the shutter? Do we, as wedding photographers, realize that we are creating a legacy of love?… Maybe it’s not who you know, but what you stand for.” (Mary Marantz)
It didn’t take me long to make up my mind what her advice meant for me/us. We have long decided that wedding photography was our calling, our dream, our passion. It has become a full-time reality for us (which is amazing!). We have shot weddings in Germany, Italy and the US. Getting published is on our to-do list. But there is more to our dream.
Their story and advice affirmed to me that we don’t just want to shoot your wedding, but to tell your story. We want to tell the story of your love for your children and grandchildren. They won’t know who we were, but they will see the authenticity of you in the photographs.
We believe in true love. And true love should never be forgotten. The memories of your wedding day should not disappear. The smiles you smiled, the kisses you shared, the little details that meant so much to you…
That is what is important.
It’s not about gear, or about the latest marketing or photo editing trend…
It’s about telling your story.That is what we want to capture. That’s what’s next. 😉
If you guys can make it to Justin and Mary’s What’s Next tour, I HIGHLY recommend it!!!! 🙂