I'm getting vulnerable on this episode of the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast and I am sharing a pretty big fear I have in regards to sharing my work that I didn't even realize I had until we had this conversation with Heather. So stay tuned. I'm Nicole Begley, a zoological animal trainer turned pet and family photographer. Back in 2010, I embarked on my own adventure in photography, transforming a bootstrapping startup into a thriving six figure business by 2012.

Since then, my mission has been to empower photographers like you, sharing the knowledge and strategies that have helped me help thousands of photographers build their own profitable businesses. I believe that achieving 2 to $3,000 sales is your fastest route to six figure businesses that any technically proficient photographer can consistently hit four figure sales. And no matter if you want photography to be your full time passion or a part time pursuit, profitability is possible.

If you're a portrait photographer aspiring to craft a business that aligns perfectly with the life you envision, then you're in exactly the right place. With over 350,000 downloads. Welcome to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast. Welcome back everybody to the Freedom Focus Photography Podcast. I am your host, Nicole Begley. And back on the podcast, Train Choo Choo. Heather Lautnan from Elevate. Man, this is getting really hard coming up with new intros for you.

No, I know. You know what you need to do is ask ChatGPT if it could help you come up with some intro. But I do want to say this really quickly. Sorry to derail the train immediately. That's fine. But have you played around with Perplexity AI at all? I have not even heard of this. Yeah, it's fantastic. So I found it. I don't know, a couple of weeks ago someone mentioned it and so what I've been doing is I have both Chat GPT and Perplexity on my screen and I'll feed it the same prompts and I'll see which I like better.

But one thing I have noticed is Perplexity feels a little more robust to me, number one. And number two, it can actually do math. ChatGPT can't do math. Screws up basic math all the time. And Perplexity does not. In fact, I asked it something this morning and it actually showed me its work. So I was like, beautiful, thank you. Interesting. Well, I have been like digging into chat by making my own custom chat robots.

Which is amazing. Which is amazing. It's awesome. We need to save an. We actually probably need to do an entire episode on how we are using AI in Our businesses both from like the editing standpoint, like imagine AI, etc. And then tools like this. Yes, yes. Imagine you guys, if you haven't tested out, imagine. Go check it out. 1500 free edits hairthedogacademy.com Imagine I am M E G Ian.

No, I M A G E N. I can spell. Anyway, short commercial break. Moving on. We're not talking about AI today. We just derailed that train real fast. Heather is no longer a conductor on the train. She has been fired. Yeah, that was my fault for sure. Anyway, it is middle of October, it's busy season, people are shooting. One of the ways, I mean, we always talk about in elevate, like the main ethos of elevate is that it's easy to find clients.

Like marketing your business is easy. You what? Give us the three steps again, Heather. Yeah, it's very simple. You just have to meet people, tell them you're a photographer and make them an offer. I love it. I love it. And as part of those, I think is like with the meeting people and the attracting people to see your work is actually showing your work. Right? Imagine that. Yes.

Shocking. Okay, so this is a common, common thing that I hear a lot of photographers struggle with and sometimes that is showing their work. So there can be, oh my gosh, so many different reasons why someone might not want to show their work. So we thought we would dig into this episode today about just really digging into that and hopefully it can help a lot of you guys out there feel more confident in showing your work, which is really that first step of getting more clients, you know, into your business.

So, gosh, some of the reasons why I think a lot of it might come from an insecurity standpoint, maybe feeling like my work's not good enough, people are going to laugh at me, or, you know, I'm not qualified kind of thing. Do you agree? Yeah. What will people think? What will they say? You know, not just even about the work, but like if you, whether you're new or you've been in it for a few years, you worry about maybe what your friends or family or previous co workers or current co workers are going to think.

What is she doing? Who does she think she is? So they worry about any or multiple levels of judgment. So that judgment could be the actual quality of the image or it could just be like you as a person and what are you doing and who do you think you are? But all of that plays into this fear which causes hesitation. You know, you hesitate because you are worried about Something.

And if you have this feeling, if you just actually you might not even notice the feeling. If you are hesitating to share your work, I would get really curious at what you're feeling. And then the thought that is driving that feeling because then you can start to maybe unpack. Well, is this true or could this happen? And by the way, just so you know, people are going to judge you.

So. Okay. But then you could get really curious about why that matters or why it might not matter. But you can't get to that point until you start to uncover that that's possibly what's, what's creating the hesitation. Yeah, I love that. And there's. I'm going to mess up the saying. But the essence of it essentially is like, yeah, people are always going to judge you and the only people that are going to judge you negatively are the people that have not been where you want to go.

Yes. Yeah. And they don't get a say. Uh huh. Yeah. It's a Brene Brown kind of quote. It is. You're going to. Unless you're in the arena with me. Like, I don't care about what you have to say about it. Yeah. That comes from Teddy Roosevelt. And I've spoken on a few stages, big stages in the past and it's nerve wracking. You know, I love it, but it causes some nerves.

And I actually, last time I got on Stage it was 400 people. And I thought to myself, I actually like consciously thought that like probably 395 of you are not willing to do what I'm about to do. So I don't want to hear what you have to say if it's negative, if you have something nice to say, please tell me. I don't want to hear it. Yeah, yeah.

No. 100%. I think that fear of judgment and that fear of what people will think, especially if you're putting work out there, like you're newer in your business and so now you're starting to say, hey, look at what I photographed. I can photograph your dog, your family, whatever. And so it's not even necessarily about that work. It's also tied into this whole new direction that you're going in your business and your life and what are people going to think?

And you're supposed to work hard and you're supposed to hate your job and you're supposed to go like do a 9 to 5 because that's what I do and that's what society expects you to do. And I'm jealous of you for doing something that you love or having the cojones to get out there and actually do something else with your life that is not scripted by society. So, yeah, there's.

That's, that's a deep one. Yeah, there's a lot of reasons. And you bring up something really good. Maybe, maybe take a note of this because I think we could do a whole podcast on it. But there is people prior to our generation, maybe like our parents taught, many of them taught us. My family was blue collar. It was like, you go to a job that you maybe don't love or maybe even hate every day to provide for your family, which makes you a hero.

So there is some nobility and doing a job every day that you hate, like, wow, look at me. I am doing this for sacrifice for my family. And you just like, take on this martyr complex. And those people find it really difficult to even believe that you could have a job and make a ton of money doing something you love, you know, almost like at your convenience, you know, like whenever you want.

And because that was sort of ingrained in some of us, self included, by the way, it's very difficult for us to see a different philosophy. So that would be the default philosophy many of us have is that there's like some nobility and sacrifice or the. You have to work hard. Yes. So there has to be some sacrifice and you have to like, just work your fingers to the bone.

Right. Yeah. Okay. That. Oh my gosh, that is a whole. Another. Yeah, it's a really good concept. I uncovered this with a one on one coaching client maybe last year, and man, we were like, whoa, this is really. What's happening is that I think I need to sacrifice in order. In order, I don't know, to be worthy of breath. I don't know. I mean, I don't even know.

It doesn't make sense. But that's our default what we've been taught. So we've never even questioned it. Like, could you real. I remember my dad saying when we were young, you know, going to college, he said, you know, it's a mistake that people think they can go to college for something they love when really they need to go something practical that can make money. It's all about being practical.

And practical meant going to college to get a degree that, like, made sense to him, by the way, in terms of getting a job. So that's why I started as a chemical engineer. I moved into mechanical engineering. But if you told my dad, if, oh, heaven forbid, if one of us would have said, I want to get a Degree and, oh, I don't want to offend anybody, but this is my dad, not me.

Like, psychology or like, political psychology is like a science. You could be a psychologist, psychiatrist. Like, yeah, you get like. But like, what if you said, like, I want to go get a degree in film. Yeah, right. That's a good one. Yeah. But like, no, I don't care how much you love it. That's just not practical. Or graphic design or photography, you know, or photography. There's a reason they call them starving artists.

This is not my dad's voice. I don't even know why I'm talking this way. But just to show you that there's something in your brain that you haven't even recognized as a philosophy. So you hesitate because you are worried that other people are going to think something. I don't know what that is about you. And I want to say too, that, like, be practical. Get a degree that serves you and makes you money.

Even if your parents were super supportive, that's still coming from society. Yeah. Like, yes. That is all around you. All sorts of beliefs that are not helpful in lack society and lack. Like, there's not abundance in other things. Like, not even an option. It just wasn't even an I. People often ask me why I went into engineering. And I was like, because I did okay. Not great. I did okay in math and science in high school.

And that's what was served to me. Yeah. I was like, oh, you should be an engineer. And I was like, oh, okay. I was 17 when I graduated, so I was like, what in the world would I have known? Anyway, so the counselor's telling me, go get a degree. Parents are telling me, engineering, by the way, I go to the counselor at Penn State and I say, no, chemical engineering.

And he says, you do not have the aptitude for that. Straight to my face, like, okay, now watch me. Watch me now. At first, because I was young, I, like, had a minute, you know, where I was like, oh, dear, should I go into film? I don't know. But then a little bit later, I don't. It doesn't matter. It took me a little while. I was like, I think you should watch me do this.

And then I just did it. Yeah, I love it. I love it. All right, so back to our beginning. Trains. Trains going in a circle. But it was a good one. It was a good. It was a good side stop, side station. Yeah, there it is. Yeah. But to get back on the tracks, the one reason that people might not want to share their work is fear of judgment and whatever that judgment might mean for their art, for their lifestyle choice, for their goal of building a business.

What are some other reasons you can think of? Okay, judgment. I think judgment's the biggest one. I've also heard this. Wait. Okay, I have to own this. It's me. Okay. This was years ago. Like, two decades. I had this thought, like, I was getting better, you know, at my craft, and I would find these locations, and I would do these certain poses that I thought were unique. They weren't.

I was in weddings. It wasn't, like, the standard poses. And I thought, everyone's going to copy me. Everyone's gonna, like, take what I'm doing. And, you know. Now, this is ironic because my first workshop I ever attended was Jerry Gohinas. He's a very famous wedding photographer. I love him. I met him in person a few times, and I took his workshop and learned some of his techniques and started to use them.

And I thought, people are going to copy these. The funny thing is, was he taught them to me. So, like, wasn't I just, like, emulating what he was teaching me? Yeah. And then I was worried that other people. And then there was this one photographer who was starting out who would take my poses and go to the same locations and literally post the exact same shot. And I was grieved by this.

I was greatly offended. Yeah. Yeah. This. This is a whole entire Pandora's box. So the train has officially, like, jumped the tracks and will not be on the tracks for this rest of this episode, because we're going to dig into this, because this is a lot here, and it is. I mean, I think we all. Because me too. Me too. I would also have that issue. And there's.

There's just a lot because. All right, let's. Let's back this up and kind of start at the beginning here for a minute, and then we'll get to kind of this little section. I want to, like, go back to when we're first starting out. Right. Like, put on your, like, early 2000 Heather Young photographer cap, and you're learning your crafts. You're like, all right, I figured out my shutter speed, my aperture.

I know how to use my camera. I'm starting to see new things. And then how is it that we start to learn new things? How do you start to learn new things? Yeah, you have to. You have to follow, read, like, you know, a mentor, a coach, or you look at other photographers or. Or you try something and you practice. Like, there's a variety of influences that come into your work.

And I think that they're all important. But I would say, for me, I. At the time, there was no social media, so it wasn't like in. Some photographers didn't even have websites. So it's like. But for the ones who did, I would go look at their work, and I would think, how could I, like, use this as inspiration to emulate and put my own style on it? So something I always.

This is so funny because he uses this line now, but something I always said. I would go into these really dark hotel rooms where brides were getting ready, and they're so ugly. And I would think to myself, what would Jerry do here? And now he uses this as his tagline in his videos. It's like this. I don't know, this crowd that talking. And it's like, jerry. What would Jerry do?

It's so funny because I had those thoughts, and I would. I would watch his video. I had access. Oh, man. Did he even have a learning platform back in the day? He was so ahead of everybody else. Yeah. I would watch him show this hotel room. So he would zoom out, and then he would show the picture he would produce and how he used light. And I would take that and try to execute some version of that as I learned what my own style was, because he had some ways of shooting that dis.

Like, didn't. Didn't fit my style. So I never. Well, let me think about this. I want to be super transparent here. I don't. I don't think I felt like I was copying him maybe a little bit, but I felt more like I was emulating and learning. He always talked about learning how to see light. Yep, yep. And I remember the first workshop, he's teaching us that, see the light.

Here's the light. And he would. You know, I sat next to him at dinner that evening, and I put my head in my hands and I shook. I said, jerry, I just can't see the light. I literally don't know what you're talking about. I can't see. And we had a good chuckle over that. And then you just. But you. I had to learn the concept, and then I had to practice it, and then I had to, like, put my own spin in terms of what I like to produce on it.

And then over time, those things kind of culminated into, like, my style. Yes. Okay. Yeah. No, 100%. I totally agree with you. So, yeah. When you're starting out and gosh. And it's especially tempting now, I think, to, like, just straight copy people, because we are inundated with social media and images. And so, like, you're starting out and you're like, oh, I like that. Oh, I like that. And here's where I think people go off the rails, which.

They see somebody that's successful, and they say, oh, I must need to do. They create a thought when they see someone successful, I must need to do that. That style equals success. So then they think they need to copy that style to reach success. But in reality, that person is successful because they were true to their voice and they created that, and everyone can copy it. And you're not going to reach that same success because it's not your voice.

Oh, my gosh, that's good. Mm. Yeah. Yeah, thanks. I actually. I mean, I've now gotten off the train at the soapbox station. Yeah, we need to go back on the train for a minute because I know you have a lot more to say about. I do. I do. If. If you. What about this? This thought? Like, you hesitate to share your work. You're concerned that other people will copy you.

Okay. Yes. Yeah. I mean, that's a legit thing. I mean, I get it. I absolutely get it. So. Especially when. So I think it's easy to share, like, the traditional things. So, like, in wedding photography, oh, it's the kiss, it's the rings, it's the cake. Like, everyone takes those shots. And pet photography, it's like, okay. And like, a puppy dog eyes the dog running towards the camera. You know, the dog by the feet.

Like, we have a very similar playbook of posing for a lot of things. But I think when somebody goes to create something really unique and special and they spend the time and the energy to, like, really just create something that came from within that, then if somebody copies that, oh, that's hurtful. Ooh. Okay. Have you experienced this where you've had this thought? Like, I have not experienced the copying, but I have.

I actually have had this thought, and I think it's one of those things, too, how you realize that it's there. You said that you don't even necessarily realize that you don't. Or that you have it. So you guys know, or at least you know, Heather, that I created my selfie dog series. Oh, my gosh. It was a couple years ago, and I've kind of, like, not purposely, I need to pick it back up again because it was really fun and unique and incredible.

And then I would think about it, and I still shared it, but I didn't share it as much as I probably should. Have. Oh, so you hesitated. Hesitated. I did. And I didn't realize I was. Oh, I didn't realize I was. But it's definitely would be from a place of like. Oh, man. If all of a sudden everybody started to doing this, I'd be pissed. Okay, sorry, Sorry, kids, cover your mind.

May I? Do I have permission to coach you on this? Yes. Why do I always get coached on my own podcast? I know. That's pretty. That's pretty funny. Let's do it, I think. Thank you for being so open and coachable. It's like, one thing I love about you, but. Okay, so you would be really upset, which means you. And you knew that, so you hesitated to share. But all of that was unconscious.

The knowing and the hesitation. Like, it wasn't like I was like, oh, should I share? No, I think this or that. It was just a. Like, yeah. Oh, 100%. Listen, 98% of what's driving us is unconscious. Like, we don't get it. Until you and I actually started to talk about it. And then you recognized. Oh, I hesitated because I would be mad. But I am so curious, like, on the edge of my seat.

What are you thinking that's causing you to be preemptively angry? Preemptively angry sounds really mean. Not mean, guys. But I definitely was a little. Still am. A little, like, mantle y. So that is a bird nerd term. Shout out to my bird nerds, Amy. Like, when a bird of prey catches their rat in their mouth, they, like, mantle over it so their wings go out and they, like, hide it so the other birds can't see it.

I've never heard this in my entire life. This is all new to me. We're now having a nature documentary piece of the podcast. But anyway, so I would get mantally over that because. Because I worked hard to catch that mouse. Like, it was. It was something that I had the idea. I worked to do the technique. I figured out how to do the technique with different types of dogs, different locations, all sorts of different things.

Like, there was. There was a lot that went in to figure out how to make that happen. So you worked hard, but working hard and coming up with a concept that you feel is unique to you, like, whoa. I came up with that. You felt ownership over it? Yes. Protective. Yes, ownership. This is mine. It took time and brain power, and I came up with it. But that.

I want you to continue the thought, because thinking that doesn't make you mad. Okay. That makes you proud. Okay, well, and I'm not mad because it hasn't happened. Nobody has really ripped it off yet. Probably because I really haven't shared it. And by the way. By the way, timeout. Can we time out for a minute? Even if Heather helps me come up with good thoughts, so I will not be angry.

This is not an open invitation for people to go out and be like, oh, Nicole said it's cool. I'm just going to do her selfie dogs. No, I am not saying that. Don't copy me. Right. We're going back. Come back into it. So usually when we have a thought, there's like an extension to the thought, like, and that we're not. Okay. So if the thought was subconscious, then the extension of the thought is, like, so deep.

I mean, it is like next level unconscious. So you were thinking all of these things about what you created, and you're protective and you know, and you love it. You put the work in. You put the work in. Okay. And if someone. Not fair. Right. For people to shortcut that and just copy it. It's not fair. It's not right. There's like an injustice here. Yes. Yeah. So when we think.

By the way, back up for a second. In life in general, when we think something is unjust, we get angry. And in any way, shape or form. So this is like a clue to life. Which, by the way, inside of Elevate. People tell me all of the time how much it has improved their lives. Yeah. Not just their photography. Yeah. Because things like this extend. So, like, think about.

If you're in a discussion, a Craig and I call it a communication, which means conflict. Okay. We just call it. Last night, we were, quote, communicating. If you are in communication with someone and they do or say something that you feel is not fair, you will get angry, like, because you think, this is not right. They should not be doing this. So I get mad and then I hesitate because I don't.

I want to avoid that. I don't want that to happen. So then you hesitate to share. Did you. Did you, like, does this land for you? Is this making sense? 100%. So what do you. And I didn't even know it was happening, Heather. Yeah, that's the craziest thing. That's the craziest thing. So what do we look at here? You know, it's like, do we focus on being proud of what you've created in the ownership and excitement of what you've done, what you've come up with and your brilliant brain?

Or do we focus on the potential? I want you to hear this clearly, the potential possibility of maybe someone copying something, and then you're going to be mad because it's unjust. Or do you focus on what you've created? Yeah, no, you focus on that. But I think it goes another level, another step, because the thing that I have hesitated on is going to continue to develop this and go to get more models and create more selfie dogs.

And I'm like, this could be calendars. This could be, like, this could be a big deal. I mean, because who doesn't love a freaking selfie dog? It's hilarious. It's so cute. Have no heart if you don't like it, if it doesn't make you smile. Right? That's true. I love it. So there is a thought that is holding me back, and I think that thought is. It's, oh, oh, oh, it's not worth the time to do this, because I'm gonna put all this time and energy into it, and then everyone's gonna copy it.

Oh, my gosh. 100%. That's my thought. That's why I haven't done anything with it. Yes. Because if I went to all this effort to use my brain power and to think this through and plan this out all my time and somebody copies it, then it's not worth it. So that's like the statement that's driving the behavior of, like, I'm not going to do it, but I want to take this another level.

Well, we're going really deep. We keep talking about these levels. I don't even know how many there are. But the next level is, okay, all right, fair enough. What would happen if they did? What is the fear? Like, let's say you do all of this work and somebody does copy you, then what? I think it would depend. I think it would depend on what the circumstances were, when that would happen.

So if I had done it and it was like, okay, I had the calendar, the book, the whatever, like, I had a success from it, that whatever my definition of that success would be, then it's like, okay, whatever. Like, you're like, you were number two. It's my idea. Like, I own it. It's fine. I don't think that would upset me as much. I think the thing that is frightening, which has caused me to not do anything with it.

And if you've read. If you've read Big Magic, of course I know exactly where you're going. So if for some reason, like right now, I closed down this podcast episode and I open up something and I see, like, somebody got a Selfie dog book deal. I'm really mad, and I'm being mad at myself because I correct with it. So be really careful, by the way. It doesn't mean you guys go out and make a selfie dog book.

Hear me clearly, please. Don't know what this means, but. Yes. Yeah, but. But the key here is it has nothing to do with the person you would be mad at yourself. But hold on. You recognize that because you're. You're sort of tuned into this. This idea of, like, your thoughts and, you know, what you create in your reality. But for most people, for most normal people, they would be mad at the person.

They would be so mad at this other person for copying them, and then they got this deal. And if I'm coaching someone around something like this, I'm like, who you mad at, bro? Who are you mad at? It's not the person. You have a thought. That. That was my idea. Mm. They stole it, and now they're getting successful with it. And that is not right. Mm. But you're not mad at them.

You're mad at yourself for not taking action. You're mad at yourself for hesitating, which is really interesting, because then what could you think to, like, eliminate the hesitation or maybe to spawn more action? I mean, the one which I. It's probably not the best thought because it's like a negative piece of. It is like, looking at the. The two paths, and, okay, I do this, and then it gets copied.

I'm less upset than if I don't do this and somebody else does it. Think about it. Think about it. So then it becomes a like, oh, well, I'd much rather go down this path. So why am I not correct? Correct. It's like, what would you regret more? And I just have this thought. I teach us and elevate. You will never regret taking action, even if it doesn't work out, but you will always regret hesitating or procrastinating always.

So this reminds me just a little bit too, about, like, the people starting their business, too, where they're, like, waiting for the perfect time or waiting for the perfect time to start selling or waiting for the perfect time to charge or raise the price or create the web like, it just doesn't exist. There is no perfect time, which is the false story, the false narrative that I've told myself all these years of, well, I don't have time right now.

Like, my time. I have to focus over here. Like, my business is this education piece. Like, I don't have time for this Silly project. Yeah. It's not important. I think they were probably making money to put food on the table and put my. Like, my daughter's going to college in a year and a half. We have two horses. Yeah, brace yourself. Brace yourself. I had saved the money, and still every time I paid the tuition, I was like, what is happening?

So much money. Okay, so, like, there's. There's so many sides. Dynamic. It's very dynamic. The whole thought of starting with, I don't want to share something because somebody might copy, I would first start with, okay, what if they do? Because they might. So I'm not going to deny that. I'm not going to say, well, chances of people copying are slim. I don't know. Maybe they are, maybe they are.

But what if someone did? And that's what I would explore. And somebody might say, well, that would really upset me because that's not fair. And I would say, and. And then sometimes I say, so, okay, I want you to keep on the train. I want you to stay on that train of association. And really ask yourself multiple times, and so why? And what else? What's the problem here?

And so I would just ask myself, like, am I going to end up dead in a ditch? Homeless, without food? If somebody. Like in your case, if somebody copied your selfie dog photos like. Like, for real, so what? You could get mad. And you probably have every right to be upset. Like, sure. Get irritated and then freaking get on with it. Give yourself 2.3 seconds to stay on your high horse.

If I created that, nobody else should ever do it. Okay. And keep moving forward. So good. Yeah, really good. You gotta examine the thought behind the thought and why. So what? Yep. Can we go back to my soapbox station for a minute? Yeah, I'd love that. Sure. Okay. Excellent. It's one of the things, and you were mentioning earlier, too, you're learning from Jerry and the light and the hotel room.

And here's the thing, too, like, when you are. Like when I am teaching in Hair of the Dog Academy, like, I am teaching. So you learn those things and you apply them and you take them and you use them. Like, I want you to use those things. Like you are coming to learn these techniques, and those techniques will help make you a better photographer. I think that the line starts to get blurry and where people start to get frustrated is when a couple different things.

When I see photographers. Well, that one thought that we talked about, where it's like, they make the incorrect association that that style is what led to that person's success. So I need to shoot like that or they get so fixated on. I really love this person, this photographer, this style. I want my style to be just like that. And they are fixated on that one thing. The key to learning and creating your own unique style is to say, all right, that's interesting.

I like that. Let me learn that technique. That's interesting. I like that. Let me learn that technique. Let me learn as many techniques as possible, and then I can start mixing and matching them into something unique. That's me. Because when you're learning, when you're new, you don't know. You don't know what's available. You don't know, like, it's all new. So, yes, you are going to pull inspiration from different things, but you need to be pulling inspiration from a lot of different things and not just fixated on one particular style, person, or, like, one image.

And I think the other important thing to note there is that it is not okay to be like, oh, yeah, let's just completely recreate that. Like, if you want to recreate it to learn the technique, you do that for you. You recreate it. You're not sharing it. You're not putting it on your website of like, look what I did. Look. Look at. Look at this, look at this.

No, no, you can go learn that technique, recreate it. That's for you. You don't share it, and then make something of your own to share. So that's my soapbox. Yeah. And you know what? As you were explaining that, I was thinking one of the biggest things I think might be driving that behavior is they don't trust themselves. Oh, 100%. So the only way to be successful is to copy this other photographer because they're successful.

So clearly this is what. So this will work. So they think that doing it that way is, like, guaranteed success shortcut. Trust themselves to come up with their own style and their own spin on it, because there's no proof of concept for them. And I have got to tell you, every single day, in one or many of my coaching calls, this comes up, this lack of trusting yourself.

Nicole, if I've said it once, I've said it 10 trillion times. What could you do to cultivate more trust for yourself? That, like, if you put your spin on it, people are going to love it and you learn you are inspired by these other people. You learn that tech. I remember this is so funny. When I was starting out, there was this photographer in Southern California who had the most beautiful wedding images, and I didn't know why I couldn't even describe it to you because I was that new to the exposure triangle.

What it was, and I did not know at the time was she had very shallow depth of field and she was using a 1.2 lens, the 51.2 Canon. And all I knew was I loved her photos and they just looked dreamy. I couldn't even tell you at the time, like, oh, the background is blurry. She's shooting wide open with the aperture. Like, none of that was in my understanding.

I just. I was like, I want to get those photos. So I took my point shoot. I didn't even have a real camera. I didn't have a dslr. And I was like, why? Why do my photos not look like that? What was happening was that camera threw everything into focus. So, you know, that's why it's called a point shoot. Yeah. Okay. I got my Canon 10D and oh, my gosh, if you got.

If anybody remembers this camera, please let me know. This is circa 2003, maybe 2004. And I first got a variable aperture lens and I was like, I'm still not getting it. Then I started to sort of understand aperture, and then I got the 51.2. I splurged on that 512 lens. Oh, my gosh. And it was a dream. The first time I put it in aperture priority and I shot something at F12, I nearly lost my mind.

I was like, that's it. That's what it is. And then. But I already had my own way of shooting. Like, I mean, I was learning to shoot and then I figured out, oh, I like shallow depth of field. It was, like, known for it. In my wedding images, I would always shoot very shallow, like, almost dangerously. Somewhat like, you should not. I don't think you should. What do you do for a group of dogs?

I'm like, 2.8. It's a 7200. I mean, when do you not do 2.8? Never. Careful. Yeah. I didn't know that. If. If you're shooting 1.2 close up, that depth of field is razor. Yeah. So you figure that out and you're like, okay, probably, you know, two. Zero is a better choice for that lens. But I figured that out. And it was based on inspiration from her. But I was not.

First of all, I'm not in Southern California, so I hate to break it to everybody, but Pittsburgh weather is a lot different. You know, I have the thought, there's no sun. I'm in these venues that are like, oh, My gosh. So challenging. But I remember thinking, oh, I've unlocked, like, one key. Like, this is. That doesn't make sense. I have one key that unlocked one door that I started to learn.

Oh, that's what I like. And I'm shooting this way. And then. And then it just went from there. But it wasn't like. It was like an exact replica of everything she was doing. It was like one component. And then I put my own spin. Yeah, no, 100%. That is the key. Which. Can I just do a blatant commercial right now? Heather, do you mind? I mean, it's my podcast.

You have permission to do that, considering it's your podcast. All right. Excellent. Today, actually, when this episode drops, is the day that we're dropping the entire portal for the Hair of the Dog Summit Edit Palooza, which we have gathered over 40 incredible professional pet photographers sharing their full edit from, like, straight out of camera to their final edit using mainly Lightroom Photoshop. Some people do Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop, but Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw are the same.

Exact processor, just a little different interface, but same buttons do the same thing. So they're interchangeable, really. But anyway, so we have all of that. So if you are, you know, gosh, early in your career and you're wanting to learn and experiment and see all these different ways to do things, 100% place to be. If you are an established pet photographer that just wants to, like, pick up on a couple new tips and tricks that you might be able to work into a couple of new things in your business or your art, also the place to be.

It's going to be just incredible. I've started to see some of the videos coming in and they are awesome. So amazing. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Jump on over to hairofthedogacademy.comsummit and it is available through November 7th. So one week, get your ticket now. Lifetime access. You can refer back to it as much as you want. And we have exercise files, so you can download the RAW and work alongside so you can learn the technique.

Because, again, the key for developing your style is to learn techniques, learn many techniques, start to mix and match the pieces that you really love into something that's uniquely you. That. Listen, having the exercise files is brilliant. That was a really good move on your part because I've enjoyed that in past classes I've taken being able to work on the same photo so I could, like, really understand it.

And I've got to tell you, even as a seasoned veteran, I still enjoy watching things like that, because, listen, I'm an Adobe certified expert in Photoshop. I clearly know Photoshop. But sometimes I'll watch someone do something and I'll be like, how did I not know that? Yeah, there are so many ways to do so many different things that you're like, oh, oh, that's so much easier than. And with all these new tools, you know, all these videos have been recorded in the past 30 days.

So that is. They are recent videos. So yeah, it's really, really good. Yeah, maybe I'll watch it because it sounds like fun to me. I love editing. I love the edit. I love to take a photo out of the camera that is obviously good, but really, sometimes they're even just mediocre. I mean, they're obviously sharp and exposed. Well, but. And then take it to exceptional. And I actually think everybody listening should purchase it.

And I've got no skin in this game. But I think they should do it because it will make you feel better about your work. Straight out of camera. You'll see. You'll see what they're producing out of camera and you'll be like, whoa, I could do that. And then they edit and you're like, now I can do that. Amazing. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And we have a variety. It's so funny.

You get to people's thoughts real fast when you reach out to them to contribute to this and they're like, me? No. Oh, no, I can't. I can. Like, do you edit your own photos? Yes. Okay, then you can contribute. And there are a variety of people because I had so many people, a handful that were just like. But I'm not like a big editor. I don't spend like an hour on an image.

I'm like, I don't want that. I want to make sure people see, hey, look, here's a five minute edit. Oh, and here's like a 45 minute, like super involved, super artistic craziness. But let's face it, unless you're just selling, just doing that 45 minute edit on a really big wall piece, like, you better be charging $10,000 for an album if you're doing 45 minute edits on every image in the album.

So we need those quick edits too. So it's a variety of everything. Yeah, it's just really fantastic. Yeah, I'm a big believer in the quick edits, but no, but that doesn't mean sacrificing quality at all. I just got really adept at being efficient and creating shortcuts and actions and different things in order oh, yeah. You know how, like, I tricked out my Wacom tablet with Photoshop specifically, like, every inch of that tablet was programmed for something that I used all of the time just to, like, speed things up.

Yep. I love it. I love it. Awesome. All right. This has been so good. So just to recap. My gosh, how do we even recap this? Oh, shoot. What is the recap here? The recipe recap is. All right. Are you hesitating, sharing your images? Ask yourself why. Likely it is one of two things. It is either you are concerned about the judgment of sharing that image and what people are going to think of you or your art, or you're concerned about somebody copying that image.

And then start to ask yourself why. Start to get down to it. And at least for me, looking at those two roads of just like, all right, I could continue to hide. And then if somebody does copy it, I'm going to be really, really upset and mostly mad at myself for giving up on it. And then also, all right, or do I move forward with it and go down that path?

And then if somebody copies, I might be still frustrated, still will be frustrated, but I am not going to be as mad at myself because I am taking the action. And that is the key, because I'm responsible for what I do. Listen, you have got to consider future Nicole. And when you think of what would future Nicole or how can I hook her up, like, what would. What would set her up for success or how would she be more proud of me?

And you just said it. She, Future Nicole would be so happy that you took action. Still mad if somebody copies it, but so happy that you took action. Like, thank goodness I did that. But if you don't do anything, future Nicole is going to be very, very angry. She will be very put off by your behavior. So it's so funny. Sometimes in the present I'll, oh, my gosh, Past Heather hooked me up.

Like, that is amazing. So this is the way I think we've talked about these different versions. And sometimes I'm like, man, past Heather is sticking it to me. Why? Why did she not think of this? It's so funny. Like, when you don't get gas and you know you have to leave early, you're gonna have to get the gas. You're like, oh, man, past Nicole. That was. I gotta tell you, that's a great example.

I always hook future Heather up when it comes to gas. I always get gas before it's less than a quarter tank, always. I always get it whenever I need it because I'm always thinking of future Heather, and I have to laugh sometimes when, like, I'll do that. And then the next day it's freezing or pouring rain, and I'm like, see? Past Heather hooked me up. I love it.

Yeah. Awesome. All right, guys. I hope you guys enjoyed this conversation. Reach out to us on the instas, let us know, and we will talk to you soon. Bye, everybody. See you next week.