Finding Focus Lynn Shapiro

Episode Overview:
Destination weddings have become a steady growing trend for the photography industry, but the amount of travel and periods being away from home definitely can weigh heavy on photographers and their work-life balance.
For this episode, I chat with Igor Demba, a destination wedding photographer. Since marrying the love of his life Zion and growing a family together, Igor has really had to focus on balancing his personal life and his work life.
Be sure to listen in as Igor shares with us how he and Zion maintain their wonderful marriage and family, while still being a full time destination wedding photographer.
About Igor:
Igor is a photographer that likes to do things differently, mixing the old with the new in a refreshingly creative way. He travels all over the world for his clients, the sense of adventure contributing to his inspiration reflected in his work. Through his images, he’s able to capture the best in people on their day.
Igor has been featured and awarded by multiple publications-- namely Rangefinder Magazine, Stylist Magazine, Huffington Post, and many more.
Click here to view his website!
 
Episode Highlights:
Igor’s growing family His business and how COVID impacted his travel Igor’s tips on maintaining a happy relationship while being a destination photographer Where he gets his inspiration His advice for anyone wanting to be a destination wedding photographer How to jumpstart your photography portfolio through social media Igor’s upcoming editing course, The Great Edit How to find your style

Say Hi to Lynn:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lynnshapirophotography
Website: www.lynnshapiro.co
Say Hi to Igor:
Igor Demba | Destination Wedding Photographer The Great Edit: An Editing and Aesthetics Course | Igor Demba Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/igordemba/

Episode Overview:
Entrepreneurs are not born-- they’re made. For my guest today, I have Natalie Watts, an award-winning photographer, educator, mentor, and mother to her son, Danny. With her experience in fashion photography for Elle UK, Cosmopolitan, and Vogue, Natalie finally decided that she was ready for self-employment.
Since becoming pregnant at the age of 17 and giving birth at the age of 18, Natalie grew up alongside her son, all while balancing her education and progressing her skills in her creative industry. In this episode, I’ve invited her to share how she balances everything-- from being a mother to being a creative entrepreneur.
Join me today and hear her stunning story of growth!
 
About Natalie Watts:
With a passion for photography since she was 7, Natalie pursued the career path with a degree in Fine Art and Film Photography, with a BA Honours in 2007 and dedicated 2 years of her life as a Studio Manager for ASOS.com.
Since transitioning to self-employment, she now has 10 years under her belt with photographing clients and their weddings, as well as a strong career in mentorship and photography education.
Click here to view her website!
 
Episode Highlights:
Being a mother at the age of 18 Her college years and what she had to do to be a mother Starting her photography business The balance between being a mom, and being a business owner Working smarter, not harder  Having dedicated time with your kids despite work Things to remember when outsourcing child care Rewarding yourself while working  
Say hi to Lynn:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lynnshapirophotography
Website: www.lynnshapiro.co
 
Join the Finding Focus FB Community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1343467349366989

Say hi to Natalie:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliejweddings/
Website: www.nataliejweddings.com
Her education: https://www.nataliejweddings.com/mentoring/

Today’s guest on the podcast is Elena Sanchez Blair a lifestyle family and newborn photographer, and educator, based in Seattle, Washington. This episode is a special one to me personally, as an encounter with a course by Elena was my own personal entry into photography. We chat about her journey from new mom to a successful family and newborn photographer and educator and how she got her family and newborn photography education business started. We also chat about community over competitionand the importance of family, wedding and newborn photography as an art and us being historians of our generation. Elena speaks about the unicorn that is balance and her views on this. She tells us how she's always been working from home in her photography business around her kids seeing her being her own boss. Elena keeps family photography as simple and real as possible, how she got to this approach to her family photography and the advice about her work that changed her life. She was previously a NICU nurse and she chats about how this affected her approach to newborn photography. She also shares what parts of her business have been helped the most by outsourcing, her approach to social media and how much of her private life to share and about her six month group coaching mastermind.
 
Say hi to Lynn:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lynnshapirophotography
Website: www.lynnshapiro.co
 
Join the Finding Focus FB Community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1343467349366989

Say hi to Elena:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elenasblair_photography/
Website: https://elenasblair.com
Her mastermind: https://elenasblair.com/the-elena-s-blair-mastermind

Today’s guest is Jai Long, a wedding photography business coach and wedding photographer based in Melbourne, Australia. We chat about Jai's Six Figure Business Map, why he started it and how business has changed his life. I chatted to him about balance and how he approaches it and how to beat to the rhythm of your own drum and how balance comes from guilt from a society standard of ‘normal’. We chat about mindset and needing to have passion in your life. Jai explains how to get as ‘lucky’ as him. We also discuss productivity and switching the narrative out that we are alone and can only do things yourself. How we need to change the game by modelling our business around our lives rather than modelling our lives around our business. He also chats about his upcoming Wedding Photography Summit as well as the effects of mindset on being able to make 6 figures.


Say hi to Lynn:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lynnshapirophotography
Website: www.lynnshapiro.co
Join the Finding Focus FB Community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1343467349366989

Say hi to Jai:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jailong.co/

Website: https://jailong.co

Free the Bird Insta: https://www.instagram.com/freethebirdweddings/
Free the Bird Website: http://www.freethebird.com.au

SIGN UP TO JAI'S SIX FIGURE BUSINESS MAP HERE

Jo Greenfield is a wedding photographer and filmmaker based in the Lake District in the UK. Jo is also mum to 18 month old Finn and in this episode we chat about her IVF journey to pregnancy and her experiences around that. We also discuss her decision to have an elective C-Section (and photograph her own birth!), her pregnancy while working full time with 30 weddings a year and about hormone levels and how they can affect us during pregnancy and after. 
We also chat about how she added filmmaking to her photography offerings, her foray into drone-work and how she runs her business offering both photo and film to her couples. We chat about outsourcing editing in order to help her load of being a mom and having a massive amount of weddings on her plate.


Say hi to Lynn:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lynnshapirophotography
Website: www.lynnshapiro.co
 
Join the Finding Focus FB Community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1343467349366989
 
Say hi to Jo:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jogreenfieldphotoandfilm/ 
Website: https://jogreenfieldphotographer.com 
Jo’s Blog about IVF: https://jogreenfieldphotographer.com/blog/ivf

Photographer to filmmaker course: https://jogreenfieldphotographer.com/new-products/photographertofilmmaker

Today’s guest on the podcast is Rebecca Carpenter, a UK & destination wedding photographer.
Rebecca recently had her first baby and and we discuss her birth during Covid times which came with its fair share of drama. We also chat about struggles with infertility and having to run a photography business while dealing with those challenges. We discussed what kind of therapies helped her during her journey to pregnancy with PCOS, including hypnotherapy and fertility therapy. We also share our hospital birth experiences and our deep respect for parents who have had to spend time with babies and kids in the hospital.
She shares gives some great Social Media tips and how to make instagram work for you and your business, dealing with rejection and ghosting, and how important it is to find your photography tribe.


Say hi to Lynn:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lynnshapirophotography
Website: www.lynnshapiro.co
Join the Finding Focus FB Community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1343467349366989
 
Say hi to Rebecca:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/rebeccacarpenterphotography/
Website: rebeccacarpenterphotography.com


As mentioned by Rebecca:

Lifestyle Fertility Therapy: www.lifestylefertilitytherapy.com
The Placenta Connection: theplacentaconnection.co.uk
Katie Mahey Hypnotherapy: https://www.maheytherapy.com