More Than Photos

Brad & Jen - Creative Business Coaches, Wedding Photographers

Veteran wedding photographers, Brad & Jen, peel back the curtain on what it takes to not just create beautiful photos, but build a thriving creative business — consider this your this is your go-to for actionable inspiration, practical steps, and the motivation to make your next move.

  1. 6d ago

    061 - Why You’re Constantly Inspired But Still Not Growing Creatively

    You want to make better work. So you save photographs. Study photographers you admire. Build mood boards. Buy the camera. Try on editing styles... And somehow, you still feel stuck. In this episode, Brad shares his own journey of trying to grow creatively, including the mentoring experiences that changed how he saw his work, 3 days in Brooklyn with Ritual Collective, and the realization that his creative voice wasn't something someone else could hand him. This is an episode about inspiration, taste, mentorship, creative resistance, trusting your own work, and learning to hear the quiet voice that says: Go there. CHAPTERS 00:00 — When wanting to grow keeps you stuck 02:40 — Inspiration vs. participating in your own creativity 04:41 — When successful work stops feeling like your work 07:00 — Looking for mentors to help me “see the ants” 09:09 — Three days in Brooklyn with Ritual Collective 11:31 — The good photographs I didn't actually need 13:31 — What if creative growth is about removing, not adding? 14:45 — Changing how I photograph to stay connected to myself 15:55 — Joel Bedford and “go to the balcony” 17:57 — Your creative voice whispers 19:28 — Arriving creatively uncluttered 20:19 — The man behind the glass door 22:43 — Did any of this actually fix the stuckness? 24:06 — The walking reveals the map LINKS More Than Photos episode w/ Joel & Justyna: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2xYjmcfls4e1OoBG01u9qJ?si=6d81e69289ce4e17 Brad & Jen Education: https://learn.bradandjen.com/ Holger/Ritual Collective: https://ritualcollective.net/ KEYWORDS creative voice, creative growth, photography inspiration, photographer creativity, finding your photography style, photography style, creative block, photographer burnout, photography mentorship, Ritual Collective, Holger Thoss, creative resistance, artistic voice, photography education, wedding photography, wedding photographer, photography inspiration, finding your style, developing your style, creative confidence, trusting your work, comparison, photographer mindset, artistic growth, making better photographs

  2. Sep 23

    060 - How Sav & Cam Changed Their Work, Clients, and Career

    A few years ago, Sav & Cam found themselves in a place a lot of photographers know well. The business was working, but the work didn’t feel like where they wanted to stay. That realization started a pretty massive shift. In this episode, we talk with Sav & Cam about what changed over the last few years, from the weddings they were photographing and the work they were making to the opportunities, relationships, and clients that followed. But this isn’t really a conversation about “making it.” It’s about giving yourself permission to want something different. Getting serious about your work. Learning to say no to opportunities that don’t fit where you’re going. And realizing that even when things are working, you might still need to stop and ask whether they’re taking you where you actually want to go. We also get into creativity and taste, working together as a married photo + video team, their relationship with social media, the unexpected connections that changed their career, and why some of the photographers who appear to have “made it” are still figuring it out too. THEMES • Changing direction when your business is technically working • Getting out of the box you’ve built around yourself • Developing stronger taste and creative conviction • Why better-fit work often requires saying no • The invisible relationships and decisions behind growth • Film, imperfection, and making photographs that feel honest • Documentary photography and creating space for real moments • Social media, attention, and protecting your creativity • Working together as a married photo + video team • Ambition, determination, and the myth of finally “arriving” CHAPTERS 00:00 – Meet Sav & Cam 07:30 – Hawaii, home, and building a life together 15:00 – Working together as a married creative team 24:00 – Photography, filmmaking, and finding their roles 32:00 – The breaking point that started a bigger change 40:00 – Getting out of the box and believing something different was possible 48:00 – Film, creativity, taste, and making work that feels like you 57:00 – The unexpected relationships that changed their career 1:05:00 – Saying no, better-fit weddings, and protecting what you actually want 1:14:00 – Documentary photography and making room for real moments 1:22:00 – Social media, attention, and the wedding industry 1:30:00 – Ambition, success, and why nobody really “arrives” 1:38:00 – What Sav & Cam are questioning and chasing next LINKS Sav & Cam: https://www.savandcam.com/ Purpose & Profit: https://learn.bradandjen.com/purpose-and-profit-course KEYWORDS Sav and Cam, Sav & Cam, wedding photography, wedding photographer, wedding videography, wedding filmmaker, film photography, documentary wedding photography, creative growth, photography business, wedding photography business, photography career, destination wedding photographer, luxury wedding photography, photographer mindset, creative process, artistic voice, photography style, working with your spouse, husband and wife photography team, social media for photographers, photographer relationships, wedding industry

    060 - How Sav & Cam Changed Their Work, Clients, and Career
  3. Aug 31

    059 - Counterpart Photos Founder: Beyond Beautiful - Finding Your Own Way of Seeing

    What makes a photograph last? Reni Maria has spent years thinking about that question, both through her own work as a documentary wedding photographer and as the founder of Counterpart Photos, a collective celebrating some of the most distinct voices in wedding photography today. In this conversation, we talk about learning to notice, trusting your instincts, finding your own way of seeing, and why Reni isn’t necessarily looking for beautiful photographs. She’s looking for photographs that surprise her. We also explore what weddings look like when you stop trying to manufacture moments, why Reni believes fewer photographs can sometimes tell a better story, and the responsibility we have as photographers to decide which images deserve to survive. Reni takes us inside the thinking behind Counterpart, including why she places contemporary wedding photography alongside photographs from Magnum archives and generations past. It opens up a much bigger conversation about weddings as historical documents and the role our photographs may play long after the trends, clothes, and aesthetics of today have passed. And ultimately, we come back to the photographer. Who are you? What do you notice? What photographs actually feel like you? Because as Reni says, “People should book you for how you see the world. Not because you take beautiful photographs.” THEMES Artistic voice and originality Documentary wedding photography The art of noticing Trusting your instincts Curation and editing Fewer, stronger photographs Counterpart Photos Wedding photography as history Timelessness vs. trends Finding yourself in your photographs Creating work beyond Instagram CHAPTERS 00:00 – Meeting Reni and the life behind her photography 06:28 – Photography as a practice of noticing 13:52 – Culture, travel, and letting weddings surprise you 18:30 – Recognizing meaning instead of manufacturing it 22:51 – Finding a way of photographing that feels like you 27:21 – How Reni recognizes distinct photographic voices 33:50 – The story behind Counterpart Photos 43:19 – Why fewer photographs may matter more 48:05 – You are the photographer AND the editor 55:18 – Getting booked for how you see the world 58:15 – Wedding photography in the larger frame of history 01:02:42 – What actually makes a photograph timeless? 01:06:46 – How to find yourself in your own photographs Connect with Reni Website: https://www.renimaria.com Counterpart Photos: https://www.counterpartphotos.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renimariaphotos Counterpart Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/counterpartphotos/ Connect with Brad & Jen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradandjen/ Education: https://www.instagram.com/bradandjeneducation/ KEYWORDS Counterpart Photos, wedding photography, documentary wedding photography, wedding photographer, artistic voice, photography curation, timeless photography, photography inspiration, wedding photography trends, documentary photography, editing, photography portfolio, creative growth, photography mentorship, wedding photography history, photographer creativity

    059 - Counterpart Photos Founder: Beyond Beautiful - Finding Your Own Way of Seeing
  4. Aug 24

    058 - How to Break Through the Ceiling in Your Market

    There’s a frustrating point in business where things are working, but it starts to feel like there’s nowhere obvious left to go. You’re making good work. You’ve raised your prices. You’ve built a reputation. But you’re still being compared to the same photographers, competing for the same couples, and wondering how much further your market will let you go. In this episode, we’re talking about what happens when we hit that ceiling, and why getting beyond it may require us to question some of the expectations we’ve learned to follow. We talk about the fear of doing something differently when the business is already working, why being easy to compare can eventually limit our growth, and how some of the photographers we admire most built permission to work differently over time. Because we can’t become meaningfully different while making sure we never do anything differently. At some point, differentiation has to feel like something. CHAPTERS 00:00 Why being different can feel so personal 02:30 What hitting a ceiling actually feels like 04:53 Why success can make us afraid to experiment 07:20 “I want to grow, but I’m afraid to stop doing what everyone else does” 09:28 Sneak peeks and the fear of breaking expectations 11:47 If we do it differently, we have to bring people with us 13:00 How great photographers earn permission to break the rules 15:20 Why risk often comes before permission 17:23 The other risk we rarely think about 18:32 Which risk are we actually more afraid of? 20:32 The greener pastures might already be in your market READY TO BREAK THROUGH YOUR OWN CEILING? We currently have one spot available inside our Mastermind. If you’re ready to raise your rates, create more demand for your work, and build a business that feels more like you instead of following someone else’s blueprint, we’d love to hear from you. Apply Here: https://learn.bradandjen.com/mastermind-coaching KEYWORDS wedding photography business, photography business, wedding photographer pricing, market ceiling, photography pricing, creative differentiation, standing out as a photographer, wedding photography marketing, creative business, photography competition, raising photography prices, luxury wedding photographer, photographer mindset, photography coaching, wedding photographer mastermind

    058 - How to Break Through the Ceiling in Your Market
  5. Aug 11

    057 - Raising 3 Kids, Running a Business & Homeschooling: A BTS Look at Our Days

    What does it actually look like to raise three kids, homeschool, run a business, work from home, and still have a life? We’re sharing a behind-the-scenes look at what’s worked for us, what hasn’t, and what we’ve learned after nearly 10 years of parenting while running our business. We talk childcare, routines, quiet time, Sunday planning, outsourcing, marriage, decision fatigue, and why we’ve stopped looking for the schedule that will finally “figure it all out.” Chapters: 00:00 Recording from the Trader Joe’s parking lot 02:11 The biggest lesson: flexibility 07:02 What we thought parenting + business would look like 09:26 Can you actually “do it all?” 14:11 Why there’s no perfect schedule 16:38 Creating rhythms that reduce decisions 21:00 Our Sunday meeting + defining a successful week 25:31 Boundaries between work and family 26:15 How we use childcare 27:51 How we divide work when the kids are home 30:16 Outsourcing inside the business 31:40 Why we hired a family assistant 34:00 Protecting your marriage while working together 35:03 Extra grace required 39:47 Good doesn’t always mean right 42:09 Building the family you actually want 43:00 You’re not alone in figuring this out Connect with us: Instagram: @bradandjeneducation @bradandjen learn.bradandjen.com Keywords: working parents, working from home with kids, work life balance, parenting and business, homeschooling, homeschool parents, entrepreneur parents, working mom, family business, childcare, family routines, time management, marriage and business, family rhythms, raising kids, creative entrepreneur

    057 - Raising 3 Kids, Running a Business & Homeschooling: A BTS Look at Our Days
  6. Aug 4

    056 - The Truth About Style, Taste & Presets w/ Austin Trenholm

    This week Brad & Jen sit down with Austin Trenholm, a wedding photographer of nearly two decades and the co-founder of Good Light Presets. Between shooting weddings across the country and building editing tools with his business partner Cody, Austin has had a rare front row seat to how thousands of photographers edit, the trends they chase, and the styles they grow into. That vantage point makes him the perfect person to untangle a question every photographer wrestles with: what is style, how do you actually develop it, and what is the difference between borrowing a look and building a voice? Austin's throughline is that YOU are the differentiator. We are all shopping at the same retailers, using the same gear and the same presets, so style is less about the ingredients than how you combine them. What starts as a talk about editing turns into decisiveness, boundaries, creative burnout, and the freedom to experiment without blowing up your business. We also explore: Why you, not your gear or your presetsEditing like a home chefFrom a camera at fourteen to nearly twenty years behind the lensHow Goodlight started Why your voice, not one rigid style, is the thing that should stay consistentThe "I could never wear that" story we tell ourselves, and how to drop itA simple reference-card trick to commit to a look and stop second guessingWhy boredom and monotony cause burnout as much as overworkChasing timelessness while working in an industry built on trendsWhy no AI culling: your voice lives in choosing every frame yourself Connect with Austin Website: https://www.trenholmphoto.com/ Instagram: @trenholmphoto Good Light Presets: https://goodlightpresets.com/ @goodlightpresets Connect with Us Join Purpose & Profit – A Roadmap to 10k Weddings Apply for the Mastermind Program - High level 1:1 creative coaching & community. Chapters (00:00) Welcome and why style is a lot like fashion (04:52) A camera at fourteen and a summer in New Mexico (08:12) How Good Light Presets started (10:42) Editing like a home chef (13:01) Why your voice, not one style, should stay consistent (15:33) To find a style, try on every style (21:23) A reference-card trick to commit and stop second guessing (26:06) Decisiveness, film cameras, and a cohesive voice (31:44) Stop worrying about your voice and just work (34:58) Boundaries, creativity, and leaving the 50mm at home (37:46) Burnout, boredom, and keeping it fun for twenty years (42:31) Is it the gear? The onion and the sharp knife (50:32) Chasing timelessness in a trend-driven industry (58:57) Where the industry is heading and the swing back to pretty (01:05:37) How do you know when you are growing? (01:15:02) Developing a voice: cull your own work and know what you love Keywords: wedding photography, photography editing, presets, developing your style, finding your voice, Lightroom, film aesthetic, creative burnout, photographer mindset, decisiveness, wedding photography trends, Goodlight Presets, photographer education

    056 - The Truth About Style, Taste & Presets w/ Austin Trenholm
  7. Jul 21

    055 - On Belief, Bold Moves, and 3 Years That Changed Everything w/ Fulton Events

    What if the biggest opportunities in your business don't come because you're finally "ready"… but because you've spent years preparing before they ever arrived? This week we're joined by Kellie and Caitlin of Fulton Events for one of our favorite conversations to date. On the surface, it's the story of three years that changed everything. But underneath, it's a conversation about believing in a future before anyone else can see it. About making decisions before there's proof they'll pay off. About saying "yes" when the opportunity feels just a little bigger than you're ready for. Over the course of just 3 years—while raising three young kids—they transformed their business through intentional relationships, strategic investments, countless uncomfortable decisions, and a willingness to build the business they wanted long before they actually needed it. If you've ever wondered whether the work you're doing today is actually leading somewhere… this conversation is a reminder that growth rarely looks dramatic while you're living it. It looks like showing up. Again. And again. And again. Chapters00:00 – Meet Kellie & Caitlin of Fulton Events 04:15 – Building belief before there was proof 11:42 – Why three years changed everything 20:31 – Preparing for the business you want 29:18 – Saying yes before you're ready 37:40 – Relationships that change your trajectory 46:52 – Every next level starts with one step 55:26 – The unseen work behind extraordinary growth 1:05:14 – Advice for creatives chasing their next chapter In This EpisodeBuilding the business before you need itBelief before proofStrategic business growthMaking bold decisionsPreparing for opportunityRelationship marketingReputation and referralsLeadership and team buildingEntrepreneurshipCreative businessWedding industryFulton EventsKeywordsBusiness growth, entrepreneurship, creative business, wedding planner, Fulton Events, business strategy, leadership, relationships, networking, mindset, entrepreneurship podcast, photographer education, business development, creative entrepreneur, premium clients, business mindset, reputation, marketing, long-term growth, intentional business.

    055 - On Belief, Bold Moves, and 3 Years That Changed Everything w/ Fulton Events
  8. Jul 14

    054 - Book More Weddings by Changing This One Thing

    This week's episode is a little different. Brad & Jen are recording from the road instead of their usual studio, but the conversation couldn't wait. If you've ever stared at a new inquiry wondering, "Do I send pricing? Do I email first? Do I schedule a call?" this episode is for you. What starts as a conversation about discovery calls quickly becomes something much bigger. Why are photographers becoming more efficient, yet feeling less connected? Why do couples ghost? And what if the problem isn't your pricing at all? Brad & Jen unpack one of the biggest mindset shifts they've seen transform photographers inside Purpose & Profit and the Mastermind. You'll learn why leading with connection instead of efficiency changes the way couples experience your brand, why discovery calls are about serving rather than selling, and how one simple shift can change your confidence, your bookings, and the way you show up as a business owner. Main Points• Why photographers unintentionally make booking harder after an inquiry • The real reason couples ghost (and why it usually isn't your pricing) • Why you're asking couples to judge your worth before they've experienced your value • How AI and automation are increasing the value of genuine human connection • Why discovery calls are about service, not sales • The four ways every discovery call pays you, whether you book the wedding or not • How curiosity replaces defensiveness and changes the entire pricing conversation • Why premium businesses are built by leading conversations, not sending information Chapters00:00 The $5,000 inquiry that sparked this conversation 02:00 Why photographers focus on the wrong questions 05:00 The real reason couples ghost 08:00 Why human connection is becoming more valuable 10:00 Discovery calls are about serving, not selling 15:00 The four paychecks of every discovery call 20:30 A real story about making an impact without booking the wedding 24:30 The mindset shift that changes pricing conversations 29:00 Becoming the kind of business owner people trust 32:00 One challenge for your next inquiry How to ConnectPurpose & Profit Ready to build a business that attracts better-fit couples, increases your confidence, and gives you a clear path forward https://learn.bradandjen.com/purpose-and-profit-course Keywordswedding photography, wedding photographer, photography business, discovery calls, inquiry process, booking more weddings, sales for photographers, photography pricing, client experience, wedding inquiries, photography marketing, premium wedding photographer, business mindset, human connection, photography education, Purpose & Profit, Brad and Jen

    054 - Book More Weddings by Changing This One Thing
5
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

Veteran wedding photographers, Brad & Jen, peel back the curtain on what it takes to not just create beautiful photos, but build a thriving creative business — consider this your this is your go-to for actionable inspiration, practical steps, and the motivation to make your next move.

You Might Also Like