Our Oasis Community

Embracing Self-Love Through Photography

• Dr. Roldan • Season 3 • Episode 14

Share episode

Send us a text


🔔 And if you haven’t subscribed yet,

Disclaimer: It's essential to note that while I am a therapist, this podcast is not a substitute for therapy. The stories and discussions shared here are meant to inform and inspire but should not replace professional advice or support. 

Guess info:
IG: @fourpercentphoto
https://bio.site/fourpercentphoto

Can photography be a tool for empowerment and self-expression? Join us on the Oroasis Community Podcast as we sit down with Megan, the inspiring founder of 4% Photography, to explore this compelling question. Megan’s multifaceted life as a mother, wife, and entrepreneur enriches her unique perspective on capturing the essence of personal and familial milestones. Throughout our conversation, Megan reveals how community plays a crucial role in grounding oneself during life's transitions, and shares her journey in fostering connections through events for budding photographers and models. We also touch on the delicate balance of maintaining mental health and self-care while juggling entrepreneurial and parental duties, offering listeners valuable insights into meaningful photography that goes beyond surface beauty.

In the second half of our episode, we turn our focus to self-love and body image, particularly for women and mothers. Megan delves into the importance of documenting life’s moments authentically, encouraging listeners to embrace their true selves without waiting for a "perfect" time. Practical self-love exercises, like taking selfies and mindful use of filters, are discussed to help boost confidence and promote a healthy mindset. Megan also highlights the philanthropic mission behind 4% Photo, dedicated to empowering women and supporting women's foundations through charitable contributions. 

Emergency Helplines

Speaker 1:

Hello beautiful souls and welcome to Oroasis Community Podcast. I am Dr Roldan, your host. I am a doctor in clinical psychology, a BIPOC therapist professor and a mindful somatic coach. While I am a therapist, remember I'm not your therapist. This podcast is not a substitute for professional mental health care, but we have resources in our website and Instagram to support you in that search. Join us for a cozy, felt conversation about mental health, personal growth and mindfulness. We explore tools to care for your mind, your body and your soul. Check the footnotes for disclaimer, trigger warnings and additional resources for each one of the episodes. So grab your favorite cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate, wrap yourself in a warm blanket and find a coffee spot here with us to be kind to be brave, loud and strong in your search of mental health wellness.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to your Oasis. Back to another enriching episode of our Oasis podcast community, where we nurture our minds, inspire our hearts and empower your body, soul and mind. Today I am just thrilled and honored to have a guest that captures life in the most beautiful moments in a very beautiful way, through her lens of life. Welcome to Megan, the founder of 4% Photography. Thank you for coming here to our Oasis, megan Hi, thank you so much for having me so today. You know the month of October and September. We're talking about community friendship, so I would like for you to share with us how photography can be a form of self-expression and empowerment.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so. I've been in photography for over 10 years. Um, so I've been in photography for over 10 years and what I've really been noticing recently and really channeling is that the things that I love to photograph most reflect my own life. So I specialize in photography for women and I really do that through motherhood sessions. I am a mother, so I feel like I understand that perspective in a certain way that helps me capture it so beautifully for other people. I am also an entrepreneur and I specialize in, you know, branding for women who are entrepreneurs. Again, I can relate to that role. And then I also do wedding, which I'm a wife, you know, like those are kind of my three life roles and those are the three things that I love to photograph the most, because, again, I understand those perspectives and so it really helps me allow the people in front of my camera to shine in a very unique way.

Speaker 1:

Right, thank you for that. Let us, as you all heard, she's a mother, she's a wife, all heard she's a mother, she's a wife. Um, can you talk about a little bit how do you come to be the photographer that you are and how community help you to keep you grounded and keep that mental health and self-care, because normally when you're an entrepreneur, all your fears, all the drama will come out and then, um, being a mom we're I mean, I don't have the privilege to be one, but I know a lot of my friends. They're always terrified. You know, it's not terrifying Like I have a little person that depends on me. And then, when you see the photography, if you haven't seen Megan, go to her Instagram. She has lessons and other tips, but her photography is the essence of, like, beauty and happiness. But when people see that, they compare right and they say oh, I don't have that.

Speaker 1:

How being a photographer have helped you to ground yourself and be more aware and self-loving, and, at the same time, can you give our audience tips of how me included to take, maybe, a picture that reflects not just the pretty but also the inner work that goes through it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, I love that.

Speaker 2:

There's a couple like questions I'm hearing, in that I'm going to kind of start with the first ones I heard. I do have one headphone off because I am listening for my little ones, but yeah, it's a balance, right. So one of your first questions made me think of when. So I have been in photography for a long time, but in 2017, my husband and I moved away from our comfort zone, our hometown and our family, and this gave me an opportunity to kind of start from scratch and be whoever I wanted. So prior to that, I was doing photography just kind of for fun. I didn't really have a clear vision, but when I was out in this whole new environment, I was like you know what? Like let's go all in, I have nothing to lose. And what I started to do was create community myself, because I craved that connection and I mean I still do this, so I'll get into that.

Speaker 2:

But what I did back then was host events for beginner photographers, for people who wanted to be models no experience needed, just people who were, you know, comfortable and wanted to be in front of the camera and bringing those two people together so that they can mutually benefit from each other. So you know, new photographers, new wannabe kind of models. It's like boom, a perfect match. And so, yeah, it grew really big and the thing with that was just ripping the bandaid off and kind of going for it Like I had nothing to lose. And you know, it was nice because I found people who also craved that same community and we all had common interests of photography and you know creativity right in this small little town and so that's kind of how I utilize community within. You know, photography in my early days, so that kind of answers that question. I'm like I might have forgotten a couple. It's okay.

Speaker 1:

How? How about you know when we're creating community? And it's true when we moved from town to town, from school to another school, or from single to married to motherhood? Right, you changed friends, you changed community. How do you deal with the toxicity of moving forward, because sometimes your same cheerleaders that you have in the beginning are not the cheerleaders that you have in the future, right, yeah?

Speaker 2:

I mean it's just not being afraid to grow. And I think I've seen lately, I've seen this quote and it's like surround yourself with people who are going to benefit your future, not because you're tied to your history, you know, and that's something that I've been needing to hear a lot lately, because I've been holding on so much to the people in my past and I'm like come on, for example, I just moved back to my hometown after being away for almost six years and I'm like, okay, my same circle is going to get together and it's going to be awesome, just like it was before. But, hello, all of our lives have changed so much and it was hard to accept. But it's also a beautiful thing Because, you know, when we do hang out, I felt like I I wasn't benefiting them and they weren't benefiting me, and it's kind of like it's okay, like we had a season that was so beneficial.

Speaker 2:

But now, you know, I want to grow and connect with people who who value what I have to offer the world and also like where I can appreciate what they have to offer as well. And so it's just being OK and enjoying the opportunity to grow and connect with new people who you might not have had the opportunity to connect with them in the past, but that's because you guys were in different places, right, and so it's just kind of going with the flow, that's all.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and talking about that, building your brand what challenge do you face building your brand 4% photography, and how do you overcome it? Mostly the mental challenges, because nobody talks about that. You know, like, yes, we have tips and why not that you can go check in her Instagram stories too about how to take the perfect picture and how to pose. But how do you challenge yourself and what do you do with those mental challenges that you get? By creating something new, something that you have never been done before.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, I mean an obvious one is to not compare yourself to other people. I have a tendency to come up. I'm like an ideas person. I have a tendency to come up with amazing ideas, like all the time, but then I hold myself back from executing them. Because, well, number one, I'm like, oh, I don't see anybody doing this. Like, is that weird, is it? Why is nobody doing it? It's probably a bad idea, but in reality, like, that idea is probably a really, really good one because nobody has thought of it.

Speaker 2:

And so it's putting that fear aside and just in stepping into your own and not needing to be like other people and not comparing at all, because why do we want to be exactly the same, you know, when you have something so unique to offer?

Speaker 2:

I think a big challenge that I've experienced personally, especially when it does come to motherhood, is that balance my business and I have two toddlers. So it's it's making sure you set your boundaries. You know whether you have a partner or or you know family or some kind of system that allows you to kind of set the boundary to do what you need to do for yourself and make yourself a priority. You know, I have the. I have these big dreams and I love being a mother so much, but I also want to fulfill the things that I crave in the world that have nothing to do with my kids, and you know it's finding that balance really and, just again, making that a priority and setting some boundaries to help you really like fulfill what it is you want to do to help you really like, fulfill what it is you want to do and what is your goal to either holistic or traditional mental health or grounding, self-love technique or tip that you will share.

Speaker 2:

Well, I have recently, like invested a lot of time into yoga because I have a very, very difficult time slowing down and being comfortable, like in the stillness. I am always like, what can I do next? What can I do next? Oh, I have spare time. What can I work on Instead of just like taking a breath, and you know taking a breath and you know appreciating where I'm at, and just really like, just you know we, we like, have so many goals, which is amazing, but it's sometimes we get caught up in the bigger goals. We forget, like look how far we have come, like let's appreciate and be so proud of ourselves and just look around and, like you made it. It like this is, this was a huge goal for you five years ago. Um, and so I've done yoga recently and I, and even in the yoga practices I can feel myself like wandering, but, um, you know I'm, I'm making it a priority to to keep it consistent.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, well, thank you for that. Yeah, body's always one that keeps a lot of our stress, and why not Now for people that wants to pose, or they want to take pictures, or those selfies? How do you help them to overcome the fear of comparison or, like you know, like their body is not what a lot of times me, unfortunately parades around like this is the perfect body. How do you prevent that your models or the people that comes to you don't feel, you know, ostracized because they don't look a certain way?

Speaker 2:

I mean it's definitely a mindset thing, and there are I mean it's definitely a mindset thing, and there are, there are, I mean there are other people that can probably help you dig deeper to really identify where that stems from. But what I do as a photographer is is really like let them know that as they are right now is important to capture. I mean, again, I do a lot of motherhood things and so with the mothers, like they want to push their, their photo, their family photo sessions out further and further until they feel like they're ready. But what's important to be reminded of is like this is who you are right now and in your life with your children at the age that they are, and if you're waiting a couple of years, you know, because time goes by so fast then you won't have pictures of this whole time frame because you wanted to just wait and wait and wait. So that's one that I really like emphasize for mothers.

Speaker 2:

The other thing that I was going to mention is because we're not always in front of the camera, like it's weird, right, and so when you do see yourself in pictures for the first time, you might be a little bit like, oh my God, is that me, but that's why I encourage people to take more pictures, because the more you see it, the more you're going to love it.

Speaker 2:

It's like it's going to be less weird, and so this is something I've recommended to people kind of like as a self-love exercise is just to take selfies of yourself in whatever attire If you want to be a little feisty, a little sexy, like. I highly recommend that, because the more you see yourself, you start to identify some angles that really work for you and you're like oh, okay, okay, I see it. And once you just you know you do that more often, it will be less of like a shock, right, and so that's something I really, I really encourage. Like, don't be scared of yourself. Like you know, once you take some pictures, you don't have to show anybody, so you will start to be comfortable seeing yourself in pictures and then, and then you'll be okay.

Speaker 1:

What do you think about filters? Filters, don't get me wrong, we all love them, we all like like a little patty do in your face, but also they can be dangerous in the sense of, like you said, the shock of seeing yourself as yourself. Um, what do you, do you say about that? What do you, what is your take out of that?

Speaker 2:

I. I use some minimal filters, a grain, because I don't always have, you know, the full, like I mean, I barely wear makeup as it is. I'm not completely against them, but I do see the harm. If your mindset isn't in a healthy place, then, yeah, presets are going to have more of a negative effect on you. Right? You know? I don't, I don't, I don't know necessarily. I think it comes back to just being more confident and more comfortable and accepting and loving yourself and then just showing up as you are, because people will connect with that, they will resonate with that. It's, it's raw, it's honest and I'm like I am who I am and I love it, and that's going to encourage other people to feel the same way as well. So some, you know, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Beautiful and with our slogan of be brave, be kind, be loud and be proud. How do you personally resonate with that, or how did your brand resonate with that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so the name behind my business is 4% Photo. Again, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of the photography I do it's focused solely on women, and so, with the foundation side of my business, I donate percentages of my profit to women's foundations. You know, I'm proud to be a woman. I'm proud to capture the woman's perspective in various ways and really help tell the story of different women and, in addition to that, give back and help. And so you know I tell people when you're, when you're choosing me as your photographer, you're not just choosing me like, you're actually helping make a difference, and so you know being loud and speaking up for women who need a little bit more support. And then again, in the photography that I'm doing, I really focus on the storytelling of who people truly are, their real moments, their real, their real connections with people, and so it's just really focusing on some real perspectives of women.

Speaker 1:

Beautiful, beautiful. And talking about that, what new projects or what kind of community do you have that we can put in our notes, that way people can go and share it and book with you? If you guys know, in my page we have some pictures that actually megan took for my branding. I'm the most difficult client that you can have, for multiple reasons. Uh, in the sense of, like I have to protect certain things, as you guys know, because I'm a therapist, and why not? But she worked with all those challenges and not only that. She brought the bright side of all that in. Like you know, in my head I was like I'm not photogenic blah, blah, blah. And all the pictures, all of them that she talked about, like, oh my God. So please let us know where we can find you, what projects do you have or how can we plug in with you?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, three different ways. So one I am a photographer. So if you do want to book with me, you know I have inquiry links in my Instagram bio. So, yeah, if you're looking for a photographer, I've got you there. Number two is my mompreneur mom group. I created a community of moms who have the similar interests of like entrepreneurship, right. So my goal with this was to bring together moms who actually have things in common and, like entrepreneurs, like we kind of have our own mindset, we think a different way, and it's so fun when you get us all in a room because we, like we just think the same, right.

Speaker 2:

I've been in multiple mom groups where I just don't really connect with the other moms and I'm really big on connections. I'm an I'm an empathy kind of girl and I want to like dig deep and I want to like build real friendships with real connections, and so I did create this mom group recently and it is for mompreneurs. Um, there will be virtual, you know hangouts as well as in-person hangouts, um, with and without kids, you know we gotta like tag team it there, and so there's that. I have an instagram um, stay right there. I have an instagram broadcast group as well as a facebook group, so you can find it there. And then, uh really is, for anybody interested in learning photography, a? Um, I'm coming out with a bundle of courses for admiring photographers, so that can be coming out soon uh well, thank you so much, megan.

Speaker 1:

There's anything else that you want to give like a little nugget of, like a challenge that um or community can have? You know know, we have, for example, in an older guest, we have seven days of mindfulness, seven days of self-love or any of those kind of challenges that you can offer.

Speaker 2:

Let's add in seven days of selfies.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so you hear here, when you hear this podcast, please start day one and please DM me and DM 4% Photography. She will probably pick the most inspiring one to promote and why not? But we challenge you to self-love. Who you are at this moment Wrinkles a little. Love, handles all of that is you and we have to like just love it. Yes, again, it's a pleasure of that is you and we have to like just love it, right, yes, yeah, and it's a pleasure, as always, having you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1:

As we conclude today's episode, take a moment to reflect. Be proud of the journey, for every step that brings you closer to who you truly are. Embrace the kindness towards yourself, as you did to each one of our guests. Honor the bravery in your actions and celebrate the importance of mental wellness with us and remember it's an exercise that we practice daily. Continue to grow and flourish, knowing that we are in this training for our mental wellness together. We are so proud to have you as part of our community at our Oasis Community Podcast for more inspiring conversations, valuable resources and supportive content, including journals, worksheets and content in Spanish. Exciting things are in the horizon. Our Oasis Community break rooms are coming soon to grab tools and take a break for your mental health. Also, we are featuring our six-month training ethical mental health coaching program designed for new and experienced coaches, as well as holistic and healing professionals. Enroll to create a safe and transformative experience to your clients. Links in the bio. Until next time, take care, stay connected and welcome to our Oasis community.