Just a piece of Advice… 

At the beginning of summer, I watched Jasmine Star, one of the most influential wedding photographers, teach a wedding photography boot camp that ran for 30 days on CreativeLive.com. I can proudly say that I was glued to the computer for 6 weeks, every singe day, listening to her share precious information with so much open heart!! All I can say to her is: “Kudos to You Jasmine, for being so brave to just give all that away, exposing yourself so fiercely. You are my cup of tea kind of girl and I think you’re awesome!”

I can’t begin to explain how eye opening the whole course was, from a business perspective and from a personal perspective. Before I got into wedding photography, I thought long and hard if this was something that I wanted to do. At first I rejected the idea, then slowly I began to accept it, mainly because it was a new challenge, a new chapter that I knew I would seriously embrace if I started that journey. Challenges are welcomed in my life, I’m all about challenges, and they don’t scare me! Bring it on Challenges! I knew it was not going to be easy – it’s never easy, nothing is easy, at least not to me, and I know for a fact that my future holds the same faith. 

Jasmine not only spoke about how to launch your wedding photography business, but she also explained the fact that by lifting your brand to higher standards, you will feel accomplished on many other levels. Isn’t that the truth? They say that money doesn’t buy happiness, but I believe that whomever said that was either drunk at the time, too poor to the point of trying to console himself that not having wealth is OK, or just plain filthy rich. We already know that with hard work and a little luck, here comes the great recognition at one point or another, hopefully sooner than later. 

Whatever you do, don’t be afraid to attempt creating an Amazing Experience for your clients – leaving behind a notable pleasant sweet taste on their mind goes very far. You offer them that, and your business, brand and everything that goes along with it will flourish in a way that will leave you dumbfounded… All you have to do is be yourself, find the best quality in your own personality and explore it to the max, educate yourself, become good at what you do and take pride in your work. Lastly but not least – be yourself, be yourself, be yourself! You owe that to your own person before and foremost. If you ask me, I have always found that I succeed better by being my own funny sarcastic self, rather than pretend I’m someone that I’m really not. Launching a business on a foreign territory has been a struggle at times, but I made it happen! They say it takes 5 years for a business to grow and get to that level of success that satisfies the standards. The photography industry has expanded so much in the last years bringing the competition high,  so you need to be on top of things in order to survive. Everyone is a photographer these days! Take my advice if you’re trying to make it in your business, don’t give up, keep going, there’s nothing else better to do anyway! 

Going back to Jasmine, one of the best advices she had to offer to help your business grow was to Blog. Blog your brains out, blog about anything that you could think off, blog about yourself and let your people get to know YOU, the deeps of yourself and not only your platonic self. Blog about things you love, people you love. Blog about your strengths and also your weaknesses. And then what? Then blog some more… 

And that’s what I’m headed to, because I do want to be successful, I do want to be independent and support myself and my family financially if rainy days approach, or spontaneously go buy a $625+tax Manolo Blahniks pair of shoes if I feel like it. Set out goals for yourself and follow them, at least TRY to follow them – one today, another tomorrow… and voila! You might have achieved them all. 

So here is to me and my new shoes, and my happy blogging! And here is to you as well! 

Remember – Be yourself, Stay true, Stay Fabulous – and Don’t. Give. Up! 

A.

Adina Preston

A lover of all things beautiful, classic and authentic, Adina’s journey into photography has taught her to adapt to all surroundings and allowed her to capture timeless, creative photographs that reveal raw connection and emotion. You can follow Adina on Instagram or Facebook below for more inspiration.