Over the past seven years as a Denver wedding photographer, I’ve been so lucky to find a community of the most amazing fellow photographers. They’ve become my best friends, my confidants and sounding boards, and even my teachers. I’ve learned loads from these incredibly talented people, and as such, I’ve always wanted to pay it forward and help other photographers bring their businesses to the next level with Denver photography mentoring sessions.
.jpg)
Back in 2012, I did my first mentoring session with Keri Doolittle, who was my idol photographer as I had seen her shoot my friend Kelly’s wedding that year. I was enamored with Keri’s style: crisp, clean and full of color. Her posing was organic and romantic, and the way she captured the full wedding day inspired me to push my photography interest from hobby to legitimate business.
At the mentoring session, we went over marketing tips + tricks, how she edited photos, and we even had a model come in so that we could practice what we had just learned. It was, without a doubt, the single catalyst that helped me realize that I wanted to pursue a full-time photography business. Without this mentoring session, I don’t know if I would be in the same position I am now; it’s very possible that without this session, I wouldn’t be typing this blog post out. I’d probably be teaching a French I class at Northglenn High School.
Marrying photography and my background with teaching was always a no-brainer for me. Offering Denver photography mentoring has been so exciting as I have enjoyed meeting new photographers in the area. It’s always such a treat to learn about someone else’s path to photography and what they want to achieve within their business. It is my hope to be able to help these achievements come to life.
Janessa approached me this summer when she was still living in Alaska with her family. At the time, she had plans to move to Colorado Springs in the early fall and jump-start her photography business in that market. When we spoke on the phone to discuss what she’d like to cover at her mentoring session, she had mentioned how surprised she was that she found someone who offered educational sessions like these. Apparently, the market she had been serving in Alaska didn’t have many photographers who were willing to help others out.
For our chat, we decided to meet up at Union Station and talk shop. We covered topics that included marketing to a new area, connecting with other photographers and vendors, and tips for creating meaningful and natural poses during engagement sessions and weddings. Afterwards, my former high school classmate Loraine joined us with her husband for a shoot around the Riverfront Park area. It was so rad to see Janessa in her element with these two.
Take a peek below at some behind-the-scenes images from our mentoring session together. Thank you to Janessa for spending the afternoon with me! Head over to her website for her take on our session together!
