Good Neighbor Podcast: TN-WNC-SWVA

EP#339: From Missed Wedding Photos to a Mission for Real Moments with One Focus Photo

• Skip Mauney & Cody McCracken • Episode 339

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Tense shoulders, fixed smiles, and rushed timelines don’t belong in a love story. We sit down with Cody McCracken of One Focus Photo—serving the Southwest Virginia Tri-Cities—to explore how calm direction, humor, and genuine care turn camera anxiety into natural, joy-filled images. Cody breaks down why great wedding photography is only 10% shutter work and 90% people skills: reading the room, guiding lightly, and spotting quiet moments that become family legends.

Cody’s creative roots go back to comedy skits and theater, where he learned timing and how to make people comfortable. A hard truth from his own wedding—only one or two photos to show for it—sparked a mission to protect other couples from that regret. He tackles two big myths: you don’t need to arrive with a pose playbook, and photographers don’t just “show up and click.” Instead, he builds a relaxed space where authentic moments surface on their own, whether it’s a quick laugh in a corner or a tearful chat with grandma. And when the clock says “wrap,” but a memory is unfolding, he stays. People over schedule, every time.

We also get practical about small business growth. Early on, clients loved his work, but few could find him. Learning SEO changed everything—targeted keywords, local intent, and helpful content turned a hidden gem into a visible choice. That journey now helps other local owners get discovered, proving that great service deserves great visibility. Between homebody nights with his wife and three cats, and weekends celebrating couples, Cody brings a calm, human touch to a high-stakes day—so your photos feel like you, not a pose you copied.

Ready to see what candid care looks like? Find Cody at onefocusphotos.com, search One Focus Photos on Google, or follow One Focus Photos on Instagram. If this conversation helped, subscribe, share it with a friend planning a wedding, and leave a review so more neighbors can find stories like this.

SPEAKER_00:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Marty.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am very excited today to have a special guest with us who's not been on the show before. So I'm excited to learn all about him and what he does. And I'm sure you will be too because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Mr. Cody McCracken, with One Focus Photo. Cody, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we're thrilled to have you. Like I said, excited to learn all about you and your business. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us what you do?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, first off, I'm a uh wedding photographer. I serve the Southwest Virginia Tri-Cities area. Um, I probably would say that I specialize in capturing, you know, genuine, natural moments, natural-looking photographs, none of those like stiff, weird, awkward poses. Uh, my whole approach is basically just to make sure that couples enjoy being in front of the camera. I know a lot of times they're always like, oh no, camera looking at me, what am I gonna do? So my whole goal is to just make them feel comfortable in front of the camera so that way they can feel like themselves. And when they look at the photos, they're like, hey, that looks like me.

SPEAKER_01:

Like you said, I I'm I'm like some way I hate I hate uh canned, you know, posed photos. I guess I hate that. And most people do, I think. Oh so uh Cody, how did uh how did you get into the wedding photography business?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I used to actually do uh comedy skits back in high school. I used to like to record myself. I was kind of like a theater kid, I guess you would say. So I started with that, and then I ended up getting a bunch of free time, and I was like, let me get back into those videos. It's been you know 10 years or so. And then um, I was watching like a bunch of video editing stuff, and I started realizing that one of the guys was actually a photographer himself. So he was showing, you know, him doing photo shoots, and I was like, man, this is kind of fun. And then I started thinking about my wedding, and I realized that we had like one photo, maybe two. So I was like, man, this is this is rough. Like we missed out on everything. So I was like, you know what? There's probably a lot of people out there who are either scared to get photos, or maybe they just kind of find some sketchy guy on Reddit or something, Reddit, Craigslist or something, probably not getting many photos. So I was like, I can change this, I can, you know, make photography fun and people enjoy it and walk away with really good photos.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good. And here you are doing just that. So uh uh what are some myths or misconceptions in the in the wedding photography business?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh I would probably there's probably two big ones. Um, the first one is people come to me all the time and they think they have to know how to pose, or they need to like come up with this big list of what they're gonna do in their photos, but that's not what it is, at least for me. Um it's it's more of me getting you comfortable, getting to know you, and then like allowing you to like live your wedding to just have fun with it. And then all of a sudden at the end, you're like, holy crap, you captured everything you captured when my grandma was talking to me and we shared a tear, or you know, my husband was tickling me in the corner. I didn't think you was looking, but you caught it. Um, so you don't have to know how to pose. I kind of walk you through stuff that way you know that you look good, but but then once you know it, you kind of forgive us there. And the second biggest myth is probably people think that you know, photographers just show up and take pictures. But um, in all honesty, I'd probably say it's 10% taking photos and 90% like people skills. You have to have your couple knowing what they're doing, they have to feel comfortable. You want to make sure you know everyone's where they're supposed to be. Um, there's answering, you know, emails, phone calls, obviously, you know, the business side taxes and all that stuff. So, in my personal opinion, it's probably 10% taking photos and 90% everything else.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, yeah, that's definitely a misconception. Um, so um outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh, me and my wife are kind of homebodies, so we're always you know watching stuff like the office or friends. Um, we love you know spending time with our cats. We're really big cat guys or cat cat couple, I guess you would say. So we love our cats and always scrolling YouTube. Um, but then when we go outside, we um we like to do anything fun, like go to movies. So we're kind of the typical homebody couple, you know, Netflix, Hulu. But um, we get outside every once in a while to you know enjoy nature and go watch movies and stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

Very cool. How many casts do you have?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh we got three, so we're crazy about them.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. So um uh let's switch gears for just a second. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've experienced and overcame and how it made you stronger, either professional or a person?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Um, probably my hardest time was probably when I was starting my business. Um, it seems like everybody that I worked with, they're like, hey, Cody, you know, we we really love your photos. We we love the way you treat us. Um, and my brand is big on family faith and fun. So a lot of people were like, Man, you know, you're this Jesus loving guy who, you know, we can tell you're trying hard, you're making us laugh. But my problem with all that was that not many people were finding me. So the people that did were like, holy crap, you know, you're you're genuine, you're pretty nice, you're you're goofball, decent photos, but a lot of people weren't finding me. So that got me going down a rabbit hole where you know I was posting all the time on social media. I was, you know, posting stuff on my website and no one was just finding me. But um, I actually dove into SEO, and believe it or not, that got me in front of a lot of people's eyes, and now I can even help people on the side. So I have a lot of other local businesses that come to me and they're like, Man, you know, people that do find me love me, but no one's finding me. So turning that struggle, I was actually able to um, you know, get people found on Google and be found more. So instead of just, you know, kind of sitting around hoping for you know people just to stumble on you, you can actually go out there and you know grab some attention.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good, very good. So, which is the name of the game. Um, so if um if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about one focused photo, what would that be, Cody?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh probably that it's not just about photos that you know I actually care about people. Um, I believe that, you know, just like I said before, that Jesus loves all of us and that we're all, you know, his children. So we should we should like keep that in mind in business. That means, you know, taking time. If if a couple books me for, you know, a real small two-hour wedding, and you know, I'm getting ready to pack up, but yet I see, you know, this moment going on between like grandma and the bride, and maybe she was always telling me when we were talking before, you know, hey, I really love my grandma. Um, instead of just being, oh, you know, two hours. No, like I'm gonna capture that. It doesn't matter if it's like a couple minutes over. So I would like people to know that I just care about people. Yeah, I take hopefully I take good photos. I mean, I let people be the judge of that themselves, but I'm hoping that people will be like, you know what, this dude actually cares at least. Like he he loves people.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good, very good, very good thing to remember. Loves people, and uh, and a brother in Christ, that's even more important. So, um, for those of us who are, you know, have an occasion coming up, maybe a wedding, maybe not, but uh an event they'd like to capture on film. Um, how can they learn more?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh they can do a couple things. Uh, they can get on Instagram and look up one focus photos, that's ONE Focus Photos, or they can just get on Google and type in One Focus Photos, or just go to onefocusphotos.com.com.

SPEAKER_01:

Very good. All right. Well, Cody, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to spend some time with us and tell us all about you and One Focus Photo and what makes you different. And we appreciate that. Appreciate you spreading the word, uh, the good word as well. That's a wonderful thing. And uh moving forward, wish you and your wife and and your clients all the best.

SPEAKER_02:

Appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely, and uh maybe we could have you back sometime when you got uh something big going on.

SPEAKER_02:

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, man. We'll see you then. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Tri Dash Cities dot com. That's GNP Tri Dash Cities dot com or call four two two two two two two two two two two three seven one nine five eight seven three.