The Power of Supportive Relationships, Overcoming Comparison, and Work-Life Balance with Camila Margotta

In this episode of The Wedding Frame, I sit down with wedding photographer Camila Margotta to talk about the power of supportive relationships in the wedding photography industry. We dive into Camila’s journey into wedding photography, how she stumbled into weddings, and the importance of assisting, second shooting, and building a trusted network of vendors. Camila shares her approach to client communication, booking processes, and balancing work with family life, as well as her tips for standing out in a saturated market while staying authentic and kind. This episode is full of practical advice for photographers starting out and anyone wanting to learn how to nurture vendor relationships and create meaningful client experiences.

Key takeaways:

• Many photographers find their way into weddings unexpectedly, and building skill, confidence, and education before charging clients creates a strong foundation and long term trust.
• Kindness, genuine connection, and how you treat people can be just as important as talent, often becoming the reason couples and vendors choose to work with you.
• In a saturated industry, standing out comes from being yourself, showing up to community spaces even when it feels scary, and focusing on relationships rather than competition.
• Second shooting remains valuable at any level for skill sharpening, networking, learning new venues, and building a trusted circle of collaborators, as long as it is done in moderation to avoid burnout.
• There is no perfect work life balance, only seasons, and success comes from planning ahead, communicating with family, being intentional during slower months, and giving yourself grace during busy ones.

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Transcript

Lisette: Hi guys, I'm back on the podcast with a new episode and I'm at Engage and I got my friend to do this episode with me. This is Camila Margotta. 

Camila: Hi. 

Lisette: And she is a fellow photographer in San Diego.

I'd love to know your origin story. How did you get into photography, specifically wedding photography?

Camila: I wanted my husband to have a career change.  To be able to do that, I would have to go back to work. And I had been a stay-at-home mom for about five years because we had our two girls and at the time my oldest was four, my youngest was one, and I knew I was gonna go back to work. I had finished an associate's in something else completely different, nothing to do with photography. feel like that's most of us, yeah. And I realized that I didn't want to do that because I didn't want to be stuck working a nine to five, like the schedule, the not being able to be with the kids all the time. 

So I've always loved photos. Having been born and grown up in Brazil. So I, yeah, back then we didn't have FaceTime or anything like that. So I knew that photos has always been a big thing in my life because when we moved from Brazil, all we had was pictures. So I loved going back through pictures my whole life. Like that's how I've grown with pictures, meaning having a lot of meaning in my life. So I knew that I liked to take photos and I had to pick a job that I could do while still being home with the kids. So because photos had a huge meaning for me, I was like, maybe I can do this for other people and like, you know, give people this heirlooms. That's what we do, right?

So I don't want to like jump right into taking pictures because I knew that in order for me to start charging people for me to do that for them, I wanted to be able to take good pictures. I wanted to be able to deliver something like worth getting paid for pretty much. So I took courses, I took classes online, like I studied up as much as I could. We had just a random digital camera at my house. While learning how to take photos, I stumbled into the world of wedding photography.

Lisette:  I feel like we've all stumbled into it. And then how was your stumble? For me it was a friend of a friend asked me to do a wedding when I was just doing family photos. 

Camila: I just wanted to practice taking photos. There was a Facebook group meetup for photographers and I went to that. And then there I've met like a few people that did weddings. And then they told me about a styled shoot that was happening. I didn't even know what that was at the time. ⁓ that's smart that you started that way. And then I was like, okay, I'll go to a styled shoot. And I started doing, and so then I went to the styled shoot. It was great. It was so fun to like, you know, be able to go in, take photos and like not have anybody expecting anything from you. Yes, yes, that is because I wasn't the only photographer there. So like, yeah, they were going to get photos like regardless, right? The vendor team. So I just got to play and then from there it grew. So these photographers I met there, I'm like, hey, can I tag along? I'll carry your bags. I'll do anything. I just want to know lwhat it's like to be live on a wedding day and how it goes. 

So from there I started assisting like that and then it turned into second shooting and then a few months into that and doing a whole bunch of assisting and second shooting, the couple that was at that stout shoot reached out to me. She was like, they were like, so we didn't tell anyone, but we're actually are having a wedding and we're looking for a wedding photographer and you're. They said that I stood out to them because of how I treated them. 

Lisette:  Whoa. And obviously they liked your photos too. 

Camila: Yes. They saw the pictures. They liked it. But like they were like, it was how you talk to us, how kind you were to us and how you treated us like people. 

Lisette: Camila, that's amazing. I'm going to stop you right there because the fact that you already knew how to take care of clients without ever having had a client is amazing. Like you just already had that decorum and the kindness that we need to show our clients and the care for them. So I love that. Yeah. And I think it goes with everything that we're hearing here. we've been learning a lot while we're here at Engage. And how they've talked about inspiring hope with other people and just treating people.

Camila: And I think that's how I go through life. I've always treated people how you want to be treated, first and foremost. Just go on about your life with kindness and just lifting people up. And I think that's the best way to go through life because everybody's going through something. I feel like that's in everybody's trust. Everybody has a busy life and everything else. So if you can be that little flower, that sunshine, somebody's day, why not? If you can be love that.

Lisette: I have felt that from you since the moment that I met you, like that you're just a very positive, kind person, just from like speaking to you for a moment when I first met you. And I feel like we definitely need more of that. I feel like we need more of people in this industry who support each other because I feel like there's a lot of competition and it's like almost unsaid because you always hear people talking about community over competition, but does everyone really believe that? 

Camila: No, and like we've met people that like say that but don't practice it. Yeah. And the sad part is that like, you know, like we both stumble through them and we see them and yeah, um, I've always sensed that from like, I don't know, I can just...

Lisette: You can smell them out. ⁓ think it's because you're a genuine person, you know what that looks like. So when someone is unlike you, can tell right away, even if like maybe they're trying to mask it, you know, and I don't know if that's innate in people to I think it is to be competitive and maybe even jealous and envious. But like I've never understood it. and I think for me it's because I grew up with parents who never modeled that for me. I never really saw them be jealous or envious, just supportive of other people. And I feel like you're very similar in that regard. 

Camila: Yeah, that's true. I grew up with a very supportive parents and a supportive husband, like everybody around me, it's also like that. like I think it was just, I'm a time in my life where the people that I want to be surrounded with and that's a right I surround myself with has to have those qualities because I just want to be around life-giving people and I've heard that from somebody else with a friend of ours. I that. I love that. Yes, life-giving. Wow. We want to be surrounded by life-giving people, not life suckers. Yes, no. They the life out of you, you know.

We are all busy. have families running a business and everything else. Why would we waste time with people that is dragging you down? I agree. And I think the older we get, the more mature we get, and know what we can take and not tolerate, we distance ourselves from those people. And I've had experiences in this career where another photographer undermines me or just does something that's not...

aboveboard, you know? And I let that happen and just dealt with it instead of ⁓ confronting it. anyway. I think it's way to move forward with like, well, I wouldn't have done that or treated this like this, but I'm going to choose to give them the benefit of doubt. Maybe that's not what they were thinking and I'm going to move on. I'm not a confrontational person at all. So I'm just like...

Okay, let's give

benefit of the doubt and maybe we just don't deal with them anymore and just go a different way. Yeah, and for me, that used to be hard to do, but again, as I've matured, ⁓ I have decided it's okay to cut ties with people who aren't going to serve your best interests. And that sounds a little selfish, but as we just mentioned, in the way that, you know,

Why would you be upset or ⁓ in just like a non positive mindset when you don't have to be, you know? And so that's the other thing I want to talk about is there's just a lot of us and like not necessarily in the wedding industry. I'm talking specifically us wedding photographers. Like what the heck? It's such a saturated market and I feel like it's always been. But do you not feel that it's even more saturated right now? Like

So this is what I we go. We're everywhere. Like, yeah, and every networking event, like, it's like, ⁓ you're another ⁓ one. Well, and then I heard that it got worse after the pandemic. Like people just came into the industry and you know, they touched upon that earlier today in the seminars is that there's no barrier to entry for I mean, really any of us in the wedding industry. ⁓ But I think photography.

We all find it to be so much fun. It's like such a fun concept when you think about, well, actually, what am I saying? When I was first asked to do a wedding, it was a very scary concept. I don't know about you. Yes, it was terrifying. It was like, what? I have to take on the responsibility of delivering a whole wedding day and taking photos. like, yeah, yeah, it's like a lot of responsibility, but it's also so much fun, right? Just a wedding in general is such a fun thing to capture. And I don't know, it's just, everyone wants to do it. So.

So because it's so saturated, there's so many of us, like how are, are there things that you do to try to stand out?

from everyone else, like to rise to the top. I mean, I feel like you've already done that, right? You're already doing amazing things and working with amazing clients. ⁓ But did you have a strategy? I don't think I ever knew about even having a strategy. Okay. I think I just always led with like, I'm going to be nice to people and put...

myself out there and that's been like the scariest thing for me. Like it's putting myself out there, being on the podcast, you know, coming to events like this and just literally going to networking events. Like that's always been the scariest. But I've seen like the bigger and the scarier it seems to me, the more it works. Yeah, it rewards you at the end, right? risk reward that they were talking about earlier. That's exactly what this is as well.

You go in knowing, you know, like what you're there for, who you are, and just go in and being yourself so that you can lead being yourself. Like to me, that's always just go in, be kind, be nice, and just genuinely like wanna meet people and like just talk to people. Like, and that's what I've always set out to do and it's been working so far.

I love to hear that. People have different techniques for getting ahead. I absolutely love that yours is just being yourself, being kind. It does pay off. really does. You don't have to step over anybody to get to where you're at.

so yeah, I think that that is wonderful that to hear, I feel the same way like to the point like it's a little bit extreme to the point where I never want to ask for anything and I just want everything. I want to be where I'm at at the level that I'm at solely based on merit, but

no, there's more to it than that. And again, all things point to engage and what we're learning here. And one of the speakers, I can't remember who it was, said that you just really have to ask because if you don't make the ask, then how are you, first of all, how is, let's say a planner going to even know about you if you don't like try to get in front of them?

and then make the ask, right? It's like, that's who we're all trying to get in front of, right? I feel like a lot of our work does come from planners. Do you feel the same way? Yeah, I would say a lot of my work comes from planners, but in very roundabout ways too, like from telephotographers or like florists. And so like, I think it's just like being...

In your lane, Like the whole comparison is the thief of joy. Like that's so true. And it's so hard, especially like in a gauge, like you're surrounded by like top industry people. It's so easy to start the comparison game and just be like, what am I doing here? I think the biggest thing in this whole journey since I first started is like,

reminding myself to not do the whole comparison game. Well, thank you for reminding me right now. It's sometimes it's a daily reminder, sometimes an hourly reminder even. Sometimes I need the reminder from somebody else too. But I do find that, you know, when I don't play that game, don't do the whole comparison thing, I am in a better mindset. I am being able to like be true to myself, true to like

Where am I going with this? Where do I want my business to go with this? And it's easier to find your people and find your circle that way. Yeah, no, and speaking of finding your people, do you have ⁓ certain second shooters that you work with all the time? Do you have a specific team or do you just kind of have a broader? ⁓

broader team I guess I can say of second shooters that you contact for your weddings. So I've been very lucky to work with second shooters that I also second shoot for them. that's perfect. And that's how I've built my second shooter pool and team and I think that's such a great way to do it because one I know how they shoot they know how I shoot we've worked together.

So then we get more opportunities to work together throughout the year. And then also that like, I don't know, something crazy happens. Like I know I can trust my people, right? So that's why another thing, like a lot of people don't second shoot. I'm willing to second shoot. I will second shoot. I've driven like three, four hours just to go out and second shoot with someone because one,

I want you to see how I work, want to, you know, like for you to experience, but then like also if I'm in a position where I need to like contact someone and I need a second emergency sign shooter or something like that, I know who I can call. Yeah, I love that. And I love that you mentioned that you do still second shoot because at the level that you're at, you don't have to, right? And there are a lot of photographers who refuse to at this level.

And I think I agree with you and I still second shoot here and there also. I think it's very valuable because if you are at the point where you're not doing a high volume of weddings because let's say because you're charging more and so ⁓ and you know the thing is for me like practice is so important to continue the practicing element of this job. ⁓ We need to keep our skill set sharp.

Yes. And really, and I'm saying all this because there are photographers, as I'm sure you know, who only want to do five weddings a year. And I hear other educators like, kind of like ⁓ putting that out there, like, hey, you know, like, let's get you making a certain amount of money per wedding so you can shoot less and enjoy your life more. But then you're going to be a little rusty every time you do. Well, I would be terrified. Like, I would be terrified.

if I went in to shoot a wedding and I hadn't shot a wedding in like a month or two. Because like just the practice of doing it over and over, know, like I think that's what keeps it sharp. But also I love second shooting because I get to like meet new people and work with new people, meet new locations, work in new locations so that like when I do have a job there, I know the property. I know how they work. know

how lighting is certain times of day and things like that. there's so many pluses to second shooting. But with that said, I will say, don't do what I did a few years ago and just book your whole year out with second shooting when you don't have your own weddings because that is a fast way to burn out.

I don't recommend it. Okay, yeah. But once I figured out how much I liked second shooting because I like to meet new people and I liked, you know, like this whole experience of like working with somebody new and then working with a new video team because you know, every wedding is somebody different or a new planner routine, everything. Like I was like, I really do like this. And like, this is a part of my job that I really do enjoy is like meeting new people. But

you know, everything in moderation. my gosh, yes. But I, again, I have to say that I love everything that you're saying. Like, it's so true. Like, and that does, I feel like we're in this industry because we like being around people and that fills your cup to meet new people, get to work with people again, because you second shot and now they're like working at your wedding or something. And it's like, you feel familiar with like, especially like the videographers. I mean, you're gonna have like your second shooter that you've been working with, but it's nice when you find out that

let's say the videographer is someone that you have worked with before and it just makes you feel so much more comfortable and ⁓ it's good to widen our world of this industry. never know when you'll need to contact someone or refer someone. ⁓ yeah, it's also a great way to meet new people. I always get asked video for recommendations for other vendors. So it's also a great way to meet new

people and be able to have a list of people to recommend others to. Yes, especially, I'm sure, I don't know if you've had the experience of working with a new videographer and it's like a disaster. Yeah. think we've all had disaster stories. And for me, it hasn't been like the people themselves, but it's been the way, technique of shooting. Like, I'll just say, I remember one videographer who

with his handheld camera like follow the bride so closely down the aisle I was like how am I supposed to get I've had that yeah my god I've had that and then the bride was walking holding hands with her daughter and like this and the videographer is right here behind them yeah and I'm like what are we doing yeah or they've been so close to the bride and groom during the ceremony where there is no way I can get a shot and

I think I've had a content creator sit in the middle of the aisle. no, for hella whole ceremony until one of us was like, she's not moving to get her out of there. no. Yeah. See, if I feel like in that case, she was doing like what other content creators would use a tripod for with a second phone. Right. my goodness. Yeah. So I did a whole episode on working with videographers and content creators and that's

definitely an issue now, right? The media team is so much bigger now that content creators are a thing. And I've been really lucky with the content creators I've worked with. They know to stay behind us, you know? Thankfully, it was just that one. And it was like when content creators first did the thing. So, like I said before and earlier, the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was her first wedding, maybe it was a new thing. I don't know. But I don't think she does that anymore.

Hopefully she doesn't do that anymore. I'm sure because if she kept doing it then you or videographers would have kept telling her, excuse me.

So Camilla, I want to find out now about your process in order to book a couple. And now I'm talking, because this podcast is more for photographers starting out. So when we start out, usually it's the clients booking us directly.

And I'm not sure how much of that is. I think we all still have some clients finding us like on Instagram and whatever, maybe even through Google.

is your process of when they reach out, do you respond as soon as you can to the email? And then do you ask for like a discovery call or a consultation right away or what, how do you do it?

So I get the message through my email and I respond.

As soon as I can? Yes, that's what I hear, right? As soon as I can. Because I already have like...

not a it's a template but like it's not right it's like a template but like that one beefy paragraph that's the template but like i will go in like that first paragraph i like write it out based on whatever it is that they put on their inquiry form ⁓ in that template there is like a zoom not a zoom link a calendar link but that always feels so icky to me

I don't know. a little impersonal? Yes, it feels so impersonal. like, hey, check out my calendar. Find a time in my calendar to book a call. So within that, I'm like, whatever is easier, you can either go through this link or email me back when you're available. So that's an option. Yeah, that's great that you give them that option because I usually just hear one or the other. You know, it's like you go back and forth trying to figure it out.

So that's why it's also hard, right? That's why I do like the idea of still keeping the link for the calendar. Because I've also had like, in there, it's like, here's the link to my calendar. I would love to find a time there. Or if you prefer, just go through and let me know. And if there's no time there, I don't know how I say it. Like, man, I don't know the line in there. But it's like something along the lines. It's like, or if you can't find time on there.

let me know we'll find a time outside of try to keep my calls when the kids are in school. But you know, sometimes couples are also working that time. So I'm also willing to open up like once or twice a week for later on in the day calls, like nighttime calls. And unfortunately that usually happens during dinnertime. ⁓

I like to have more control of that and not just keep my calendar open. Yeah. So that's when we're like, oh, we're working during the day, is something in the evening available? then we'll go from there through the email, finding a time. So then we go through there and we schedule a call. I always propose a Zoom call because I tell them, like, I would like to walk you through a gallery, like show your gallery if you want to see that.

My calls are very like I let it happen very organically. I don't have like a script that I follow. I've heard you should have a script. ⁓ really? I don't have a script because that is stuffing to me. Yeah, yeah. Like I said, it just it needs to have the, you know, like personality. want to meet them and like have the conversation flow. So in order for that to happen.

I need to leave it open. with that being said, sometimes I have couples ask about certain parts of the day or ask to see galleries and things like that. And that is when I will bring up a gallery through our Zoom call or walk them through the day through there based on a question they have asked. So you actually, during the Zoom call, show them a gallery and then kind of, what do you say? You just walk them through a scanning of the gallery? ⁓

So let's see, one of the times I bring up a gallery is like, ⁓ like, like they

maybe ask me a question along the lines of how do you work throughout the day or how do you, what's your flow like for the day? And I always say like, this is your wedding. I'm not going to tell you how it's going to go. It's literally whatever you want, we can make it happen, but we do need a game plan. And that is.

when you sit with your planner and you come out with a timeline, then you will have a call and talk about photos for the day. But it is your day and if you tell me, hey, I want to do first looks so I can have more time with my fiance, then we can do that. Or if you tell me I really don't want to see them beforehand, but I want certain things to happen, what can we do to make the day flow easier so we don't have as many photos later and things like that.

Or they'll ask me, what would that look like? Right? So like, ⁓ there's like, I remember this one wedding, this is how it flowed, or that one wedding, that's how it flowed. ⁓ Or I have couples ask me, like, what is lighting inside a church looks like? That's when I'll bring up the gallery, too, like, hey, we can walk through it, we can show you, like, this is how we game plan.

family photos inside outside of church because writing can get tricky. okay. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. That makes sense to bring up examples when they ask you and that is so smart because instead of them having to visualize it or like I do send them galleries afterwards with like examples of their kind of venue, you do it in real time. And that's actually genius. ⁓

that can be so helpful to the sales process because even though you're doing it organically, it's still a sales call. Even though you don't think of it that way and they don't think of it that way, but the whole time you're selling to them. And that would solidify someone wanting to work with you if in that moment you're explaining and showing them visually, like how can they resist? Like if they like what they're seeing and like what they're hearing and you're speaking from a

place of authority but also positivity and kindness. I'm sure you book like 100 % of your weddings when you do these calls with I don't, but have you heard that that would be the dream to book every wedding we get on a call with. ⁓ Do you send them your pricing at all? So if I send them my pricing once they inquire, just shoot the first first email, there's like, I can build you a custom collection.

if whatever, if your day flows outside of these collections that I have, but here's kind of like a starting point and there's like three collections on there. Yeah, perfect. I do three collections too. And I think, I know some people do a fully custom proposal after they've spoken to the couple. I like what you do is having those three collections to give them an idea. Of course, they're not going to know a year out, six months out if they need eight hours.

or 10 hours, sometimes they don't know if they're But they can have an idea. Exactly. You have an idea because you've asked them, is it all in one venue? How important is getting ready? Is it a Catholic ceremony? Yeah. Are you a You know all these things. Yeah. Which, you know, sometimes they don't know. Sometimes ⁓ they don't even, haven't even thought of a first look until I've asked them. Yes. They're like, sometimes they're like, what is that? Yeah. So like maybe I should stop asking that. But no, it's good to gauge like, and if, you know, and get them thinking about.

the timeline, you know, and even if they are going to have a planner, if they already have a planner, ⁓ you know, then I tell them, you know, we'll get the planners timeline with the final set of hours. But if you'd like, I can send you a proposal for eight hours because I know we're going to need at least that amount. Yes. And so that's the thing. I always say, like, I don't offer any less than eight hours because it's a service to them. I don't want to be the one rushing them throughout the day. Yeah.

Because you know if they hired for six hours, they're still going to want the eight hour coverage. Of course. Just squished into six hours. And we don't want to do that to anybody. Yeah, so we have to educate them. ⁓ But then I would say too, like, we can start with this because and that's why I send them during the inquiry call so that we, before the inquiry call, so that we can talk about it during their inquiry

like, hey, I don't know if you got a chance to see my collections.

But I want to know if you have any questions so that we can start talking about it. Because sometimes they don't know. They're like, ⁓ do you have a... That's when the six hours sometimes comes up, right? You have six hour collection. That's when you educate them. It's like, you're to need at least eight hours. But also, that's when you're like, if you hear they're having a Catholic ceremony in a ⁓ church.

You know, there's travel to and from and all these things. And so that's when I'm like, actually, the nine hours still not going to be enough. We're going to need the 10 hours. Yeah, because the church ceremony is never close to the time of the reception. There's always like three hours in between. Yes, but even if it is, even like I've had, like, even so, sometimes, but like sometimes church needs you there like an hour before. ⁓ right. Like there's those two that like the church wants you there.

a long time before they start. you like, it dictates a lot of how the day is gonna go. So it's not me trying to like upsell them or anything like that. And I always explain that to them too. I'm like, look, I'm just telling you like what from experience, how I think it should go, how many hours I think you need. We can take it from here. We can add on later if we need to or you know.

But I say, can start with this and if we need to add on hours. And then like, I always have a call with them or not always anymore. And like maybe now 50 % of the time, I have calls with them before the wedding day to walk through the photo timeline. And that's when we're like, okay, we need more hours. Yeah. Yeah, that's smart. I actually have my wedding planner. we worked together a lot and then I actually used her for my own wedding and

It was interesting to be on the other side of the Zoom call because she always requires a Zoom call with the videographer, the main videographer, the main photographer, her, ⁓ yeah, and the couple obviously. And ⁓ it's a requirement because she just wants to make sure that she's very considerate of her vendors. it's actually more for us to make sure that everything is good on our end.

that there's enough time for this and that and we can give our feedback. So yeah, so was weird to be on the other side where I was like the bride and like trying to be like, is this good guys? But anyway, ⁓ so yes, that's smart. I usually just wait for the planner to send me the timeline the week before and then I'll like- Well, know, there's sometimes there's there's weddings without the planner. So that's like when you kind of take the charge on that.

So that's why I said now it's 50-50 because I've had couples who still have a planner but still want to make sure that I know everything that's happening. I always say I can be as involved as they want on their wedding throughout the process. I tell them during the call, if you have questions on timing for things, I've had...

such crazy like hey can I send you the options of considering for my dress like you know what that means that they feel very close to you so I'm always saying like I'm as involved as they want so some some couples like especially like some that I get hired through planners like they're like sometimes I don't even meet them until their wedding day right yeah so

There's that, but so like there's such a wide range. I don't know if it's like where I'm at in my business right now, but there's those that like will have calls leading like two or three leading up to the wedding day. And there's some that like we meet on the wedding day. Okay. Yeah. You know what? I think it's more of them, right? The different kinds of clients that we have and the different personalities. So ⁓ I think like the ones that we don't meet until the wedding day because they have a planner is because

they're such busy people that they're just relying on their planner for everything. then there are those who I had a bride who was like, I want to be friends with all my vendors like after the wedding. And I did, I did like a maternity session and then like the, you know, baby. Those are so fun when we're like capturing like the wedding, like engagement, wedding, maternity, newborn, like that's. Yeah, you're like their photographer for life for all their milestones. It's very special. And even though I don't

for to do portraits anymore, I will always make the exception for my past couples. Actually, you know what? I started doing a lot more this year. Of portraits. I even created my own separate Instagram account just for my portraits. yes. Which is, everyone listen to that. She said separate Instagram account. And I always hear you should do that because you got to show your niche in like a separate thing. I've always felt weird posting like those, like a lot of portraits in my wedding Instagram.

because I do still want to focus on weddings. But I don't know how this happened, but I get a lot of people from out of town that come into San Diego and they want to do portraits while they're on vacation. So I'm like, like how do I market this without crowding my weddings Instagram? So then the beginning of this year actually, I created a separate Instagram account and no, I think it was last year, but it's been going great.

that's awesome to hear. Yeah. So that's a great way to supplement your income. And that's the other thing. Like it's okay to have supplemental income. It doesn't have to all be from weddings, you know, like some people do corporate events. I do social events, which I haven't separated from my wedding stuff, but I feel like it's all event related. So I'm keeping it together. Also, I can't deal with another Instagram account, but, but that one is more automated to be completely honest. Yeah.

I mean, it's there. It's probably like your portfolio then, right? Yeah. Yeah. And then people, okay. Have you found like pivoting a little bit? Have you found that your clients like are expecting to see themselves on your Instagram feed? And I'm asking you this because you always hear about show only the work that you want. Yeah. No, I haven't had clients like ask like, you haven't posted. But that being said, I've been terrible about posting.

until like, I'm gonna say middle of this year. Okay. And then like going back, it's really hard to like go back and figure out like what haven't I posted. So I kind of just started fresh and like, but I haven't heard it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it gets overwhelming too, right? Like what do I post? Especially when you've done so- it's terrible. I hate it. I hate Instagram because of what do I post?

my gosh, I know. I feel like Instagram just looms on my mind like constantly. Like, because I've put so much effort into it for the last, I think like eight years? I don't know. I started towards the beginning and I was just like, and you know what? this year I started putting... Well good, because I have found that it is great marketing tool, obviously, but like couples will find me and book me through Instagram or vendors like...

I will say my highest paid to date client, Instagram. Amazing. And that was last year. that's I was like, all right, let's share. We're going to do Instagram. like I said, I hate it so much. Yeah. It's time consuming. It's time consuming, but I think it's draining. For me, it's draining. That's what it is. So what I do is I have a working Google Doc, and I will pick a day, and I like...

will be like, all right, let's plan some stuff out. And I will bring up the galleries that like, all right, this is Instagram, like this should go on this. Something about this, like most recent weddings I've done or something like that, weddings I like, I bring it up. And even the ones that like, you know how you said, like people say, me show what you want. I find that I can get something out of most weddings. Yeah. You know, there's something you can show out of most weddings.

Yeah, so you can show in some elevated detail or zooming in on something where you don't see the rest of the bare details. Sometimes it's like, you know, the venue's not that great, but the couple was amazing. So we showed the couple or like, I have clients who are like, I really don't prefer my face not to be on there. But then I'm like, can I show your details? you know, so there's a lot of us can I show you like from a distance? Like you can't really see your face, but it's like

You know, like almost a landscape picture, but at least the couples there in the distance. Yeah. So I try to like, you know, be fair in that way. But then I'll just go through those photos, go through each gallery and like, try not to overwhelm myself. like, all right, maybe let's try to find 10 from this wedding and 10 from this one and 10. And then I like screenshot the photo that I like for it to be the cover.

on my Instagram and then I bring it all to a Google Doc and then like I play around with rearranging it from there. then that's when I'm like, all right, I like how this grid looks. Let's open another like within that, like you can like have tabs within your Google Doc. So then I'm like, let's another tab. All right. This photo, this is the gallery we're going to pull pictures from. Like now let's write captions and like and I try to batch.

all that out. That is so smart. You're very methodical about it. I had to be because I had to figure out like it's been a biggest hurdle for like four years like how do I post more on Instagram? This is why I found it. And it's like I had to because I was finding that like I was missing out on so much opportunity for not posting. Yeah I mean it's still the gold standard of social media for photographers in my opinion. Everyone talks about TikTok.

But you're showing more behind the scenes on TikTok. I have a TikTok. I don't think I've ever posted on TikTok. I have zero things on my TikTok. I don't even open that app. And whenever I do, have like 65 messages. like, because people send me stuff, like because I have an account. So like my friends will like send me things on there. And like, I never look at it. Cause like, I never even open it. Yeah. I know I attempted and then I was like, no, it's too much work. It's like, we're already bombarded by so many things that we have to do in our business. Plus we're both moms.

have husbands, families that we need to give our attention to. so like, I'd say let's, this will be the last thing that we talk about. Something that has just always been in the back of my mind is the work life balance when you're a mom. Oh my gosh. Now that is so difficult.

Do you have any thoughts on that?

I don't think there's a work-life balance. don't... If there is, I'm yet to find. I think there's seasons. And especially because the kind of job we have, we don't always dictate when we work, right? if you go two months without any work coming your way, like, it's not necessarily... It's not your... It's not your choice at all.

Yeah, then if you have three weddings one month and you have to do all those edits and all these things like It's also not your choice that they all came at the same time and I know people sometimes say like you just you can still like pick and choose but like What if those three weddings are the only wedding that you have so far? Good point that I did not even think about because Yeah, especially, know, they're not being booked a week beforehand right now. So you're like well

⁓ I have these three inquiries for three weddings in one month for next year, probably October, right? That's the busiest wedding month of the year. So how are you going to say no when you don't have, let's say any other weddings for the year and you have no idea if you will? Yeah. So I do think there's seasons, right? Like we have a busy season, we have wedding season, then we have like, so I do think that when...

I know there's gonna be a few back to back events happening, say it's a wedding and a birthday. It's actually other things other than weddings too. Yeah, think most of us do. Yeah, but say, okay, looking into next year, I know I have think five booked already for next year or around there. I do know...

that two of those are on the same weekend. It's like a Thursday and a Saturday. So, but that's the nice thing though is knowing ahead of time so you can plan, you can warn that's I'm talking about Susan. So like I do warn my husband, like, hey, just so you know, this month coming up, it's going to be busy. What does that tell us, like me and him? I'm going to need to put more time into editing.

he's gonna need to take more on with family things. But we both works a lot. So sometimes it's both of us working all the time and like literally surviving life. But then there's also seasons like, I don't know, January is usually really slow and like February. like, those are the times I try to like be very intentional about being with my family and making that time count.

another thing that I was just gonna say, like, I'm also finding is that like you have to find the time as well. And like, I'm already looking ahead into next year, like when are my weddings? When am I going to take time for my family? Like a vacation? Yes. So I've already booked a spring break vacation for us because always by the time it comes around, I'm like, oh, I should have thought about this and I don't have I haven't taken the time for us. And it's like

in the middle of the chaos, right? By April we're getting started or getting busy. like, so like, but that's when the kids are out of school. So like, now I put everything in my calendar. When are they gonna be out of school? When are they gonna be home? Like I try to be more intentional about the things I take on in the summer when they're out of school so that I can be more intentional about being with them. Yeah. And I think something that ⁓

one of the speakers, was Lindsay Conklin. He's a videographer with L'Rev Films and he had us all in tears, right? ⁓ When he was talking about how we have to miss events, ⁓ but he also showed videos of the kids and their parents in different rooms, in separate rooms, and the kids expressing how they felt about their parents and you heard about how proud they were.

and how basically they understood. None of those kids seemed like they were very affected by their parents' work schedule. And it's all the same. It doesn't matter what vendor you are in the industry. You're going to have super busy moments. You're going to miss me You're going to miss things. But kids are super resilient. And if you're a good parent, even though you're missing some things, you're not missing everything. So they remember that you were there for that birthday. You were there on a daily basis.

that month, ⁓ they don't feel the void because as soon as you're able to, you go right back to giving them all the attention because it's slow season or whatever. I think also, I think it's important to give them the example of work ethic. And I feel like I saw that from both my parents. And I think it's a good example to give your kids. you took off like for the first year, right? When they were babies.

Like those are critical years where they need so much that yeah, of course, I don't know. It's hard to work as much as you want when they're really little. Mine are now 14 and 10 and they're just, it's so easy. Like they can do so much for themselves now and be independent. So your girls will get there. No, they are too, like nine and 12. Okay. But I still find that like when I'm working a lot, like I've been gone.

a bit these last two or three months that like they feel more needy and I just know that they just miss me.

I try to find things to show them that I still care and I'm know, still mom, I still love you, I still wanna take care of you. Well yeah, you were FaceTiming with one of your daughters earlier. Yeah. That's very sweet. And in December, my youngest teacher, she's doing, for the month of December, she's having parents come in and read to the class. So as soon as that email came out, I jumped on the link right away because I knew I was gonna be done this week.

and I wanted to be sure to have a date that I'm there to be. So Friday I'm gonna go in and read to the class.

Thank you so much, Camilla. I think we're going to end it here. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. You're my second guest ever. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yes, of course. Okay. Bye everybody. Bye.