How many things are on your to-do list at any given time?
How many hats do you wear in your business?
I’m going to guess…. a lot.
I also know that people love to give the advice to “delegate” and “don’t do everything yourself!” But they don’t seem to talk about how much asking for help can actually add to your plate.
Like booking a photoshoot for your business. It’s been on your list and when you finally reach out to book a shoot it suddenly feels like you have a million more questions to answer and decisions to make.
It was supposed to add ease to your mental load, but instead it feels like it’s multiplied it.
But that’s not what I want it to be for you! My approach is to lessen your load and still get you the photos that will actually add ease to other parts of your business, like marketing, content creation and visibility.
So how do I do that?
It starts with a questionnaire. So yes, you do have to sit down and answer some questions about yourself and your business, but chances are you already have all the answers!
We’re not digging into things that you’re still figuring out. This will just give me a look into what your business is all about, what matters the most to you (your values), and what you want your clients to feel and experience when they work with you.
Then I take your answers from that and create your personalized Photo Shoot Plan! Which is… what exactly?
It’s the guide that will give YOU the answers you need to prep for your shoot and what to expect during it. Instead of making you do more work and add to your mental load this will help alleviate it.
Your photo shoot plan includes:
You’ll get this a few weeks leading up to your shoot so you have plenty of time to look it over and ask any questions you have.
When your photo shoot day arrives the real fun begins! I’ll use your photo shoot plan as a guide for your shoot, but there will also be room to flow and play. I’ll take the lead and show you what to do, where to look, when to grab the prop and what to do with it when it’s in your hands.
Being in front of the camera might not feel like the most natural thing in the world, but my goal is to make the photo shoot feel more like a conversation and to put you at ease. Deep breaths, good chats and photos that feel and look like you on your very best day!
After the shoot you’ll get your photo galleries within a week and once you choose your faves you’ll be able to start using your new photos a week after that.
So reaching out to book your shoot with me will check “get brand photos” off your to-do list, but it will also take away some of that mental load when it comes to having photos at your fingertips that you can share, use and post whenever you need them.
This is a great time of year to highlight what your values are - what matters to you the most and why? Does the holiday season amplify them?
It’s also a great time to add in some fun, joy and light to your content.
You might not do an entire photo shoot just for the holidays (unless you are one of my Members), but you can add in some of these ideas to your shoot any time of year and use it when December rolls around!
And now for those ideas…
Find some decor in your brand colors and play!
Like your regular season branding photos, but with a holiday background to switch it up for a season!
The perfect time to highlight a gifting option for your clients.
Perfect for your email list headers, holiday graphics and Reel/Story backgrounds (my members get these beauties included in their membership every year!)
Season of celebrating! If champagne isn’t your thing swap it out for hot chocolate in a cute mug, cheers-ing gingerbread or whatever your favorite thing is!
Tell us what brings you the most joy this season
There are so many great outdoors spots in Ottawa to do your branding photoshoot! When we book your shoot we’ll dive into some questions that will help us figure out where the best location for your shoot is, but if you’re curious on outdoor options here are a few of my faves!
Park at: City Hall ($)
Photo spots:
Park at: Byward Market (street or parking garage $)
Photo spots:
Outside Fairmont
Rainbow stairs
Major’s Hill park
Park at: Lansdowne underground parking ($)
Photo spots:
Fountain/Splash pad benches
Great Lawn
Garden boxes
Benches in South Court
Outside the Horticulture building and Aberdeen pavilion
Outdoor cafe seating
Inside Beandigan (ask permission before taking photos and always remember to purchase something!)
Park at: behind Bower Coffee (free!)
Photo Spots:
Walk down Richmond Road through the bike path
The red door of the Keg
Park at: Tropical Greenhouse (free)
Photo Spots:
Outside the Tropical Greenhouse (photos inside aren’t allowed)
Bench at the back of the greenhouse
Walk over to the Ornamental Gardens (road and sidewalk)
Ornamental Gardens
If you’re really ambitious you can walk or drive across the road to the Arboretum too
Park at: Parking lot beside the Ron Kolbus Lakeside Centre
Photo Spots:
Greenspace (the trees here turn pink in May!)
Path and rocky point
Beach (head to the far North side for some trees and privacy)
10 minute walk over to Beachconers Ice cream, Britannia Coffeehouse and Britannia Bakeshop (always ask before taking photos inside retail shops! And remember to purchase something if you're using them as a location)
Click here to find out what you need to know before your Ottawa branding photoshoot!
I’m experiencing a space in motherhood that I haven’t heard anyone talk about before.
I keep saying that it feels like when we hear empty-nesters talk about when the kids are grown and move out there’s a rediscovery of who you are and what you do without them there.
I’m far from that moment. But yet.
There’s a space in between. When your kids shift from little kid to just kid.
When they still need you, but not for every thing.
They still say “mom, mom, mooooom” a million and a half times a day, but it’s not because they can’t do something themselves. It’s because you’ve always been there.
Being their source for everything, being needed all the time, being that expectation.
Then one day they walk home from the school bus without you (because they’ve requested to do it by themselves now).
They burst in the front door with shoutouts of whatever chaos they ended their day with. Backpacks tossed in the hall, lunches emptied out on the kitchen counter.
They have their own end-of-day routine that you watch unfold from your corner of the couch where you’ve been reading for the past 20 minutes.
Last year your day would’ve ended here too. There wouldn't have been a couch and reading time, just a mad rush to finish things up before the "pick up kids" alarm blasts from your phone.
You’d be the one emptying the backpacks, comforting the meltdowns, taking care of all the things. No time for sitting, reading, you.
But now. Now you’re in the in between.
You still need to make the dinners, but you don’t have to worry about crying, overtired kids while you do it.
The survive-until-their-bedtime days are no longer.
Now in the in between everyone puts their dishes away (or at least closer to the dishwasher than before). Everyone goes to do their own things and you pick up your book again.
You actually read a chapter.. two… three before someone asks you for something. And when they do you can decide if it’s something you actually need to do or if it’s a parenting moment of “do it yourself, kiddo”.
They watch their own shows, but still cuddle with you.
They want to go for a walk around the block with you, hold your hand, and tell you all about their video games in a language you only half understand.
They still want you to put them to bed, but not read stories and sing anymore.
I wish I knew that the last time I sang the bedtime song was the last time. There’s a bittersweetness in not knowing when it happened.
I’m sure there are more in between stages to come. Ones I won’t know about until I’m living it. Ones no one else seems to talk about.
But in this one, at this very moment, I’m grateful to know I'm in it.
I stand in my house, when everyone is home, and wonder ‘what am I supposed to be doing?’.
No, not supposed to.
Not what the internet tells me is self-care and that I ‘should' do xyz to be whole and balanced.
Strip all that away and get to the real questions that sit in my mind as I stand there not knowing what to do.
What is it that I want to be doing?
What feels soul-filling to me now - as the person I am today?
What do I even like doing?
The space in between starts with unsuspecting moments where these questions find me.
Then it happens more often and more often and in longer moments.
That’s when I start looking for the answers.
I think I'll find them in the in between.
xo Amy