Episode 198 - Intentional Exposure

In this episode, Kira and Mary break down the now-viral Vanity Fair photo scandal featuring Trump’s cabinet - and it is photography tea at its finest. They dig into the deliberate choices behind the lighting, composition, angles, and lack of retouching by photographer Christopher Anderson, and how all of it contributes to a not-so-subtle visual narrative. This isn’t just a pop culture moment - it’s a masterclass in editorial photography with intent. The conversation also hits on why this story matters to us as photographers, how we wield power through images, and why “just taking a picture” is never just that.

Plus, the duo shares exciting plans for the future of the podcast, imaging updates, and new ways the community can join the fun in 2026. 🎉

🎧 Listen now for expert takes, a little gossip, and big inspiration for your photography life!

This episode was written and performed by Mary Fisk-Taylor and Kira Derryberry, produced and edited by Kira Derryberry.

Transcript

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Welcome to Get Your Shoot Together, the Photographers podcast where we discuss studio, business life and keeping it all in line. I am Kira DeBerry. And I'm Mary Fis Taylor. Hello, Mary Fis Taylor. Hello, Kira DeBerry. Hell so much going on in the news. Uh, I would say, and I mean, my gosh, I, yes. Um, lots and lots of stuff and so sad about Rob Reiner and Rob and Michelle Reiner. That was devastating. Oh God. I mean, talk about devastating. I I have been, I have been, I mean, I hate to say that I have been down a rabbit hole mm-hmm. With, with, you know, learning about their son.'cause I don't think anyone really Googled. Nick Reiner, um, until this, I mean, you know, so, right. Did you see the movie? I never saw the movie that they made together. Um, I didn't, yeah, evidently there's a, a movie that he wrote with a friend Nick Reiner wrote with a friend and his dad produced with him about their relationship and his relationship with drugs. Um, and, uh, I'm tempted to watch it, but also. Oh, I know, I know. I just, it's just so hard, like things like that are just impossible for us to wrap our brains around. Right. Like we just, we, you know, and unfortunately, like it does happen. Like, I mean, a, a friend of mine, it happened in her own family. Um, really, I, yeah. Um, it happened in, when I was in high school. Um, in Huntsville, uh, to this family where the son, you know, he severe mental mm-hmm. Issues, severe drug problem. Um, murdered his family brutally too. It, you know, just like Nick Reiner, like, you know, um, it, you know, I heard he, the way he did it was pretty gruesome and the way this family, um, was murdered in Huntsville St. Same, very gruesome, you know, and they'd all been at a Christmas party together that night. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. At co O'Brien's. Yeah. I. I don't know. I just can't. It's in understand it, it's incredibly unfortunate. It's, I mean, it's a study in what happens with people with mental health and you think about, like, you think about Rob Reiner and how many times, I mean, what does this, this kid is, he's not a kid, he's in his thirties, but you know, this guy has been in and outta rehab for his whole life, right. Would say 15, 20 times he's been in in rehab and his parents are doing everything they can. Yes. To, to help him, including, allowing him just to live in their, on their property, you know, because they're worried about him. Right. You know, and then, and then this happens. Uh, I mean, ugh. It's just so tragic. It's awful. It's awful. And, yeah, I, I, I just, again, I can't wrap my head around it. And I feel my, my, you know, my heart just goes out to the whole family, especially the daughter who found them. Oh, I, I just. I, it's just unfathomable. It's, uh, it's just not even, I, I don't have the ability to understand how this happens, but you know, from everything I've read and everything, you know, everybody knew and they were incredibly supportive and they did everything they could do and they, it still ended up the way it ended up so, well, I, I heard, I heard that they took him to that party. Because they were afraid to leave him alone. Right. And they said that he was acting kind of strange at the party. Yeah. But that probably was normal. I mean, he probably acted strange a lot. I mean, if, you know, we know addiction does things and you know, he, he probably was acting strange. He probably was acting strange. I mean, that's okay. Yeah. That makes sense. I wonder how the defense will play this, um. You know, I know, I know in California, apparently the, no one has been given the death penalty in like 30 years or something, but like, it's still, it's still like maximum life sentence and death penalty is still something that, oh, I didn't think they even had it. I didn't think they did either. But I read that those two charge, I mean, those two outcomes are a possibility. I, I wonder if they'll, I mean, he's mentally, I can't, he's obviously mentally unstable. I wonder how that's gonna go. Yeah, and I mean, I don't, how is he, is there any recovery from this for him? I mean, when and if he does get straight, you know what I mean? How do you move? I don't know how you move on. Like I, the amount of, I just, you know, I just can't imagine the amount, amount of therapy that's needed in this point. Like, just for this whole family. Well, him included, if anyone was getting it, it would've been him, you know what I mean? I mean, they had, he, he comes from a family with the most resources, you know? Right. And, um, so I, I'm sure everything that was being done was being done for him. And unfortunately that's, it just wasn't enough. It wasn't enough. Ugh. That's horrible. Well, the second thing that is, that's buzzing around the new is did you see, you saw the Vanity Fair shoot with, uh, I mean, shocked and appalled. Not, not really. Just kidding. I mean, DIA diabolical, vanity Fair, diabolical. I am just on the edge of my seat. Yes. What did you think? I have so well, I have so many thoughts. Right. I mean, it, I can only imagine. You do. I mean, I, this is right up your alley. Well, okay. Fir first. Uh, first, uh, I think it's, uh, uh, what, who's, who is the, um, photographer? Is, uh, Christopher? Oh, I don't know the name. Yeah, let me see. I've got his name.'cause I, I wanted to take it, I wanted to talk about this particular artist in, in general, Christopher Anderson. Okay. So Christopher Anderson is, this is his style of work, right? So it it's not, if you, I mean, from what he's saying, he's like, look, this is what I do. He doesn't retouch. He photographs people in their, in their realness, and not just in a documentary style, but in he, he's a portrait artist, but he does, he's known for these extreme closeups, right? He's also known for. Photographing things as they are. Right, right. So there's, there's a lot of commentary about like, oh God, they didn't straighten the lampshade, they didn't move the furniture. They, you know, they, you know, there wasn't a lot of care taken to the scene to style it, you know, or photoshopped, nothing was photoshopped out of it. Mm-hmm. Right. So first and foremost, look, that is what the artist says is his style. And if you go and you look at his other work, it is. You know, I mean, so, so it's a very intentional choice on vanity Fair's part to bring this particular photographer in. In my opinion, the photographer did the job that the photographer is known to do. You know what I mean? Right. So I, you know, however, what I find interesting about it is I'm the lack of Photoshop aside. Right. Sharpening enhancements were done. There were some. Mm-hmm. There, there, there is some playing around with, with those styles, um, that has definitely been done. Color. The color. Color, it's color graded of course, but it's kind of color graded in the same style that Vanity Fair does. Vanity Fair does things like kind of p yellow or, or faded blue, you know what I mean? It's kind of green. Yeah. Very green, green, yellow, blue. They've, they're kind of, that's. A lot of what their shoots end up looking like. Anyway. It was the no light in the eyes I thought was a bold choice. Well, and when you saw catch lights, like, uh, in the eyes, they, if you saw them, there were, they were spot center. Like it was just the light. So not only did Christopher, uh, photograph them as they were, he took no care to light them in a flattering way at all, which I think is interesting. Mm-hmm. Because you can argue like, well, this is just what they look like. Right. Yeah, sure. It is what they look like, but you also lit them really unflattering. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say also camera angle wise, there was intention behind. The, the low camera angles. Yeah, the wide shots, right. Or the, those closeups are not just cropped in, they are probably in camera very close to that cro because they're shot on a, on a long lens. Like they're, yeah. The, the features are pancaked out. So from a technical standpoint, uh, choices were made to make, I would argue, to make them look worse or more villainous. Or, you know what I mean? Yeah. Uh, because I think there's definitely a way to do a no Photoshop version of people and using angles to, and lighting. Lighting and still make it look pretty. I mean, we know how, how to do that lens. Lens's choice. Lens's choice as well at the level of photography where he is in photography. Just like any of us, I could, I could get a, I could do better. You know what I mean? Like I could light it better. Lens choice, lens selection, you know, camera settings, um, even location lighting. I mean, you can make it look pretty good. I mean, I know, still know how to make it look pretty good without Photoshop, you know what I mean? Like I could do that. So, so here's a quote from Christopher Anderson. I, I, I, this morning I was like, just, I'm all in on this, right? So here's, here's a quote from, from the photographer. He says, I did a whole book of American politics where I did all closeups. It's something I've been doing for a long time. I have done it to all sides of the political spectrum, not just Republicans. It's part of how I think about portraiture in a lot of ways, close, intimate, and revealing. Okay, so that's, that's Christopher Anderson's thoughts on, on the style of it. I, you know, I mean, that is, I, I think it's less about the photographer, um, doing a really bad job and more about Vanity Fair, choosing him specifically to get the end result that they wanted. You know, so if a is little column, a little column B, like this is what this guy does. Right. But I was reading some, some people, these are just random people's analysis. And I, this one, so there is a, there's one of, of, uh. Caroline Levitt, right? Mm-hmm. And I'll describe it, but we can, we can always post it later or, or you could look it up. But there's a photo of her and she's in her red suit and she's standing in front of a fireplace and there's a lot of things disheveled in the scene. It's a full length photo of her, and she's standing next to an armchair. But listen to this, this comment, um, from clouds and coffee on threads. She says, if the chair had been turned at an angle away from the camera, which any interior photographer would've done, 'cause this is a terrible angle for the chair. So the chair is like facing straight on the camera and it takes up a lot of space. Yeah. The image would've centered her authority. Instead, it's fully open to the camera, emphasizing the absence of the person meant to occupy it. She stands off to the side of it, visually subordinated to the chair itself, as if her position is defined in relation to whoever sits there rather than the one who holds it. And I'll add, she's standing next to an it appear. I mean, it's a big high back Queen Anne chair, right? Yeah. With an American flag draped over it, just kind of clumsily, um, but also subordinate to a vacant chair. Okay. I mean, it's, it's a real commentary on, on what's going on. Yeah. Um, everything is a little messy. Everything's a little unep, but according to, you know, the photographer, this is how the room was. Right. But I, wow. You know, I, I thought that that was incredibly insightful. I wanna, I also wanna read one, one comment on, there's a portrait of JD Vance. Now he is, it's a wide angle shot of him. Uh, just standing against a random wall in the office. Yeah. And like the dimmer and the thermostats right beside him. Thermostats right by him. There's a flag by him that's way taller than him. Yeah. Um, and there's a ton of negative space above him. Right, right. So it says, so this is a comment from Silver girl sales. This is on thread. Yes. The closeup shots are diabolical, but so many of their wide shots are killing me with their background choices. Look how the thermostat and the light switch and even the jacked up baseboard gets just as much space and attention as the vp. He's right up against the wall casting a shadow, and the headspace makes him look so small. I'm dying at all these choices. Well done. Christopher Anderson. Yeah. So he's either getting a lot of love or some hate, right? Because people are like, you know, because they're gonna just assume it was intentional. That's just where it is, right? People are gonna assume it was intentional. He could continue to say, this is how I photograph. This is my style, which I a hundred percent understand. And I, and I see that I, you know, I've, I've done just, I'm not as much as you, but I have looked at it enough to go, okay, yep. You know, I see that like, but this feels a little. I don't know. And maybe I just want it to, let me just be very honest. Maybe I just want it to, but it feels a little more intentional than the norm to me. Um, maybe, maybe it's not, maybe, I mean, you know mean it's definitely intentional on vanity fair's part, like, you know, yes. On the, on the, on whoever the art director was and the, and the author and editor of this magazine, the photographer did the job they wanted them to do. Right. You know, I mean, that's. That's what it looks like to me. When you look at, um, the composition of all of the images. I mean, it is a study in composition, you know? Mm-hmm. An intentional composition, it looks sloppy, but if you really look, there's all kinds of leading lines away from these characters. There's attention to details that are subtle, just fu everything, you know? Yeah. And it's, it's amazing to me. And then. The, um, the, the next question I would have about it is, you know, on all the, I've never been on a, on as high a, a scale shoot as, as that would've been, uh, most of us haven't, right. But Right. But, uh, all there's gotta be some sign off, final approval on images. And if the cabinet, if the White House didn't demand final approval, I mean, that's bad on them. You know what I mean? Like what? What, what deal was struck because it's crazy. Very, I, I don't know. I mean, yeah.'cause you mean to tell me that they didn't have, I don't know, like was it buried in a contract that nobody looked at that said that the Vanity Fair has final approval or the photographer's final approval like. Who, who was in charge of that?'cause somebody's gotten fired, right? Like at the White House. Like, because somebody, I would assume so somebody set that up. It's not like Carolyn Levitt gets on the phone and says, okay, vanity Fair, let's, um, let me set up the shoot. That's not her job. No. There's somebody else that handles all that. Right. And Vanity Fair, historically has been very anti-Trump. So I don't get, I don't get why they even did it. I don't get why they even did it. Like some of this is like. They allowed divinity fair, uh, writer journalists to follow them around for like the whole quarter, right? So the, and there's recordings of these poll quotes that they're getting from the, I'm shocked by this, you know, and I, how did they let this happen? You know? I mean, like, what is the, I don't know. It's amazing. And now have they, have they commented yet? Oh, they said everything's pulled out of context that they, that uh, they, um, never authorized the Vanity Fair to, you know, photograph them this way. And, you know, that they, you know, and it's like, okay. I don't know. I don't think they're making a big enough stink about it, to be honest. Like, I'm surp. I know they're upset about it and I know that they, you know, don't like it. But, uh, I mean, Carolyn Lovet. Photographed so close and so detailed that you can see her, her lip filler injection scars all on the top of her lip. Yeah. I mean, that is wild, wild, you know? Yeah, no, I, I, yeah, I I'm still shocked by, I'm just shocked that it happened. Like, I'm shocked they let Vanity Fair in. I, I, you know, I mean, I can understand that they let. I don't know, a, a very pro Administration Magazine Inn or a publication, but I mean, nobody, it's no surprise, you know, that Vanity Fair is not pro this administration. Like it's just, I don't know why they let him in. I think that was stupid. Well, the other side of the, well, it's stupid and I, I have no, I have no understanding of, of who, who, unless they're just all, I mean, I, I don't think, I think it's. Not a secret that I don't think very highly of that particular Right, uh, cabinet. Um, but I don't know. I, I don't know that they aren't just showing us what it was like. You know what I mean? I mean, I know that photography aside, you know what I mean? The photography aside, uh, that is what Carolyn Levitt's face looks like. You know what I mean? Now it's too close, right? Mm-hmm. Like I don't, if you got real close to my face, you, you probably seen my ain. No way you're gonna see a chin hair that I'd missed. You know what I mean? No way. No way. There's no way I would let that happen. No. If you got that close to my face, I don't. So I mean, also, I'm just wondering, I wish there was some behind the scenes photos of this, because, I mean, how long was the lens that they didn't know? You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, because you can't use a Mac, you can't, you can't use a short lens, a macro lens or anything like in their face because they would know. They'd be like, that's too close. Backup please. Photographer. You know what I mean? Like, but he would've had to use like a long lens. You know, to get, to get that or zoom lens. You could use a Zoom lens. Yeah, zoom. I guess. A zoom. But I mean, even at, even at, I can do that with my zoom lens. Even 1 35, right at, no, I took that 35 to three 50. My Canon lens. I could do it. I've done it. Yeah, I've done, but you could be across the room and do it that close. Yeah, that's what, yeah, for sure. I'm just saying they didn't use a fixed, no, they weren't using prime lenses at, at all. Like, I, I just don't know. I, I'm just very surprised. Um. You know, part of me is like, well, are they so incredibly full of themselves that they didn't think this was gonna happen to them, or, which seems very, you know, shortsighted and ignorant, but, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I just, I love that photography's part of it. This isn't the only thing this week. Wasn't there another one earlier in the week about something about Princess Kate? Oh, I don't know. And claiming, I think that there was, oh shoot, let me look it up. There was something about a photo photo, uh. Let me see. And uh, that they had come on and said that Princess Kate was doing better and they were showing pictures and they said that they were old pictures and they could tell by something. I don't know what it was, but there was some kind of, um, uh, I hope I'm not making this up. Um. That there was some thing about that they were showing old pictures, so now they're doubting is she healthy or not type thing, so Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, and they're looking for that, you know what I mean? They're, oh, yeah, a hundred percent. Um-huh. Well, I, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not sure that. It's just that, you know, normally for, for celebrity or for, you know, whatever great links are taken to cover up or to make them look better, right? Yeah. Articles and staging and hair and makeup and all those things. And none of that was done here. And so are we not just seeing who, not physic physically who they are, but just seeing them like, and how they behave. I mean, there's a part of it that where JD Vance evidently said, if you make. Rubio looked worse than me. Uh, I'll give you a thousand dollars or something like that. Oh, I heard that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, um, um, and, you know, there's the chief of staff, you know, just blurting out all kinds of negative things about, about people you know, about, um, JD Vance being a conspiracy theorist, and, uh, about, uh, Bondy, just totally whiffing the, um, Epstein case, you know, and about how trunk. Trump. Trump acts Trump. Trump acts like an alcoholic who just thinks he's king of the world. You know what I mean? Who Right. Do whatever he wants. And so like she said, all those things and so are normally those things are off the record. Are we just getting how these people behave and talk? You know, is that just, well, obviously we are, which is great for, for us. But again. How they let this happen is beyond me. I still don't, I, I, I cannot wrap my, there's nothing they have to gain from this. Like, this is nothing surprising. I mean, first of all, you know, we have one side that's not gonna believe it. They're gonna believe whatever story they come up with, that why it's not true. And then there's the other side. I hate that, that side, 'cause that's just the way it is. The other side is like, yeah, no shock. That's exactly what I thought. Shock. So I don't know what we've accomplished here. No, I mean, from an artist standpoint, it's fan, it's a fantastic study. I mean, uh, of intent, right? Yeah. Like it's a fa we've, we've had, we haven't talked about, uh, intentional. Uh, photography in a really long time. But that, that is, to me, the most delicious thing about the whole thing is the, that I'm interested in is the intent. And yeah, we can read it so many different ways. It's just, yeah, we can, it's just fantastic. So anyway, if you, if you guys haven't had an opportunity to go look at these photos, I mean Wow. Go do it. Go, just go. If there's on Vanity Fair's Instagram, you can just go check it out, um, and look at it, but, oh. Wonderful, wonderful. I mean, it, it is what it is. And you, you know, I, I, I immediately looked up the photographer too, and of course completely forgot his name as soon as we logged in. But I, you know, thought, okay, well, you know, it's pretty much on track. It's a little looser, a little less polished than his normal stuff, but it's, it's, it's within the, it's, it's, you know, it's a, it's a close cousin, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. Like, it's, it's pretty close. So, um. I just still, for me being, knowing enough about politics that, you know, just because that was my former life, I'm just still so shocked they even let it happen. That's, that's their PR team. Their PR team. It doesn't make any sense. Their, no, their promotional team, pr, any of their marketing and planning. I, I know they have these, these teams. Assembled, you know? Absolutely. And they accomplished nothing. I don't understand how this, how this got by. I, I would one day, I hope we find out one day, I hope there's some tell all. Vanity Fair article about how this came, came to be because Yeah. You know, again, again, I, I hope there's a lot of articles coming out down the road that explains a lot of things to me, but sure. Here we are. Um, no, you know, you're exactly right. And, um, but it's funny, I love when photography becomes part of the scandal. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. It makes me feel very important. I like that. I like that. Mm, mm-hmm. Um, but it's, you know, it's, and it's, and it's another. Strong testimony about where we, how, what we do, and how important it is. And to take something that's so incredibly raw and so incredibly, you know, not orchestrated, uh, feels, you know, whatever you wanna call it. But, um, so incredibly intentional. And I, I like that you, that's what you said because I was having a hard time putting my finger on the right word, but I mean, he created a scandal, a story, everything with his work. As a photographer, which I think again, just speaks volumes to who we are and what we do, and we don't give ourselves enough of that credit. So kudos to Christopher. Kudos my friend, and you know, shame on them for letting it happen again. I still just can't. That's what I wanna understand is, you know, this wasn't an accident. And so, you know, me being with my brain, I'm like, okay, what was their spin?'cause they had to have known this is what was gonna happen because of the photographer's work. Letting a reporter follow you around. Well, clearly they didn't look up the photographer's work, right? They said, we've got a photographer. He's done a lot of political, he's had a political book before, but nobody, I bet not a person opened a book and looked at it. You know what I mean on that? Really? You think that I I How could it, how could it not? I mean, because. If you go and look at, 'cause even when I worked at the house, like we would've done, we would've looked that up immediately. I know. I'm just saying. See, part of me thinks they knew what was gonna happen. Or maybe whoever, because they can't be that dumb. Well, maybe they are. Whoever signed off on it.'cause it's not the A team, it's not the cabinet that signs off on it. No, they're just, they just, you know. But whoever, maybe it's this, maybe it's a little bit of sabotage from within. Maybe. Maybe somebody, oh, I like to believe that. And they said, you know what? I can't do this anymore. Like, I can't sleep at night. That's gonna happen. Let's let it happen. I'm gonna quit anyway. Let me, let me like, let me strike a match and I, let me, let me like, let me pour some gasoline and strike a match on my way out. You know, somebody got fired over this, you know what I mean? Mean, I have to believe that maybe they, maybe they forced, what is it? Forced firing, you know what I mean? Like they, they did it on purpose. I'd be like, deuces, see you later. Yeah. I mean, I wanna know who that person is. I'd like to give him a medal. Yeah. Well, it's a, it's definitely a 50 cent level of, it's fitty, fitty petty. It's fitty petty. It's fitty petty. I don't know. I am a, I am, I am a delighting in these memes. I probably too much. Uh, I like it. I really like it. I think it's great. Oh man, absolutely. Great. Well, you know, uh, yeah, another week, another scandal. Here we are, another week, another scandal. But, you know, uh, we're, we're getting desensitized, aren't we? Unfortunately, and that is the saddest part of all. I mean, so much of that because it was just, just a rough week with Bondi Beach, with um, brown. Um, as a matter of fact, one of the students was from here. He went to Midlothian High School. Um, he was a kid. Like I could have done his senior portraits, like he's that close to, I didn't. Mm-hmm. But um, you know, he got into Brown and he was um, I think first generation to go to college in his family. Um. I believe he was Filipino. Um, but just his family was so proud and he, anyway, it just, and, and then there's, there's a two time, um, uh. A survivor from Brown, I, she was also in, um, Parkland. Yes. Mm-hmm. I read that. Mm-hmm. And that happened at FSU too. We had two, two time survivors at the FSU shooting from Parkland. Um, so I mean that's, um, that's, that's, that's where we're at. And then I, I saw something where, um, people are going see, you know, 'cause, you know, Australia has a lot of gun control. Right. Oh wow. Yeah. And did you see that girl in TikTok went in bananas? Like Yeah. Yeah. The see gun control doesn't work. Okay. Ma'am, she, uh, close your mouth. Your ignorance just fell out. I mean, that's not, yeah, they haven't had a mass shooting in over 30 years. Yeah. Australia has not had a mass shooting in over 30 years. Meanwhile, we have one every day, and it was a radicalized, you know, it was a radicalized situation from. Someone, you know what I mean? Like obviously from someone that was antisemitic, so, you know, I, I don't know. Well, the guns that they used were also purchased legally. Mm-hmm. And, and their government is doubling down on the gun control. Not, not right. Pulling back, you know, 30 a, a 30 year run. I mean, it's gonna happen, right? It's gonna happen. Of course. That's just what's gonna happen. But 30 years without a problem, and then you have a problem, just means we need to tighten up, not. You know, oh, this isn't working. Oh, well. Yeah. And, and so the people saying, oh, gun control doesn't work because look at Australia, you guys come on. It's so time. We, we have a mass shooting every other day here. I mean, you know, so, and yeah. And have for years. So anyway. Oh, you know what? Let's talk about something to look forward to. Let's do that. So guys, um, Kira and I are super excited. We kind of, I'm gonna be very, very, very, very transparent. We've kind of gone back and forth what to do with the podcast and where we wanted to go with it. Um, cool thing is Kira Berry is finally, finally just. Months away from being done with, uh, PPA Board of Directors, which is a, you know, I know she'll miss a lot of it. She'll miss the people I'll, and she'll miss some of it, but it's gonna free up a lot of her energy and time. Um, but we've kind of gone back and forth on what to do with the podcast and we have made a decision to completely kind of revamp it a bit, um, going into 2026. So we're gonna obviously take off for the holidays and imaging. We're gonna come back stronger than ever, and we're gonna really do our best to actually get this on YouTube so that you can see us. Um, we're gonna, we're gonna just promise two episodes a month because we cannot promise four because our schedules are pretty good. We thought we could. Yeah. We over, you know, and we are getting, we're working on a whole new line of merch that we're super excited about, um, and. It's all very exciting. It's a very exciting project. Um, I'm have made a commitment that I'm gonna really try to master TikTok this year. I've been, you've been doing a good job, TikTok, which is nutty. Um, but, uh, just trying to, and, you know, trying to have more than like three followers, which is. It's happening. It's slow, but Sure. So follow us on TikTok, because we're gonna start dropping some hints on some of these things, probably on our personal TikTok. Probably we'll get, uh, get your shoot together, TikTok together at some point, because we hope to do some things in person. Um, when we're together, we'll try to podcast and we're just bringing some different energy to the podcast. It's still gonna be about photography, keeping it all in line. About our everyday working in the studio, but I've also decided that 2026 is gonna be my year. Like it's gonna be 2025 in so many ways. Was such a great year. I had so many great trips. Yeah, you were on most of them. Uh, so many good things. But, um, you know, I just, I've got a couple things about to launch and I'm very excited about it. I know you've got your courses that you're working on, so mm-hmm. There's a renewed excitement, um, that we're gonna bring with us to the podcast. So, um, so anyway. Day. Yeah. So, you know, happy holidays. Happy New Year. Merry Christmas. We, we'd love to see you guys at imaging. If you're around, please say hi. Come up, talk to us. And if you have, what I'd like to do is if you have, if you have questions, if you have things you want us to talk about, if you have ideas. For fun, merch, email us, let us know. If we read it on the podcast, we might send you a little gift for participating. I think that would be fun. We'll, it's participation awards is what we'll call it. Um, maybe it's a t-shirt or a notebook or something from us because we'd love to use real life, your real life content. Our, um, in our podcast because I think that that helps everyone. If it's a problem you're having, likely it's when we've had ourselves or someone else is having, or both. So, um, I think that'll be kind of fun to bring. Yeah. Your stories to the podcast, I would love. Um, have you ever seen, um. Uh, am I the a-hole? Like where people write in? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I love that. Mm-hmm. And I think that that's, yeah. Am I wrong? Or, you know, how, how would you handle this or what have you, and, you know, um. Again, odds are we've, we've gone through it, our on our own. Um, you know, so, um, but certainly it's, you're not alone. And I think when we, when you do get that, it's like, oh, it's not just me, like this. Somebody else is going through that too. I think that really does help. Mm-hmm. So we'd love to get more content from you guys, so start sending that in because, um, you know, we wanna use that and, you know, let it inspire us. Um. As we kind of move through 2026 with this podcast, because we do love it, we enjoy it, um, but we want it to be relevant for us and you and, um, wanna have a little more fun with it, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm excited. And, you know, uh, the last time I, when I was traveling, I, you know, was in Dallas, I had a couple of you come up and say hi, and tell me how much you love the podcast. And, and that was, that's really sweet to hear. You know, it is sometimes, you know, you're in a vacuum and you don't really. I don't, people come and tell me things that I said or that we said that just crack them up and, or they'll ask me about something from, you know, a year ago and it's like already left my brain.'cause you know, it's not like we listen to it after it's done. I know. You know, we're just having a conversation and then it goes out on air and everybody else listens to it. I, I know and you're so right and like, did I say that? Okay. That's okay. Wow. All right. That was a bold. Choice, but Okay. Um, yeah, no, I, I get that a lot. Um, I feel that, and I love that people listen and, and we do, we are really proud of our, you know, for the fact that we've done no marketing or anything for this podcast, which is something we believe in so much for our other businesses. We haven't treated this like a business. We've treated this as something that Kira and I. Just said, oh, let's do it. And we just started doing it. Yeah. And here we are several years later and we do love it and I do love that other people enjoy it. Um, but I wanna have a little more fun with it. I wanna be a little more cheeky with it. So, um, again, you know, if you have some thoughts, 'em in, we'd love to hear from you guys. Um. And yeah. Yeah. We're just gonna take a little time off. We hope again, to see you at imaging. Um, hopefully you've registered, don't forget, you know, Kira's got that full day class about chat. I wish I was gonna be in, in time, but I'm gonna miss it. But yeah. Yep. There's a full day class. And then there's also, we have a great keynote speaker this year, Matthew, uh, Amerian Ian, um, which I am definitely not pronouncing correctly, but, um, uh, he is going, uh, to talk to us about why we matter, which I think is. Relevant to even what we were talking about earlier, like what I agree, how, how important what we do is and, and why we matter. So that's gonna be an excellent one. And there's tons of amazing, really fun things going on in imaging. USA we're on our, our, uh, familiar stomping grounds at the Gaylord, which I heard got a, a reno on some of these rooms, which is great. I heard that too. Yeah. Um, maybe one of us will be like, maybe some of us will get lucky and get one of 'em, but, um mm-hmm. You know, it must too, I'm a nobody anymore, so I'll be in the back. 70, wherever that is. Well, um, no, imaging's gonna be great. Um, I'm gonna be there for a whole week, you know, because of that class. And, um, and there's lots of great classes to take and there's still time to sign up for pre-Con. So if you wanna come in a little bit early, if you wanna spend the day with me, I am teaching all day on. Thursday, which means you gotta get there on Wednesday, but that's okay because there's a lot of people coming in that early. We've got, uh, CPP classes as well on those days. I think, um, uh, we've got some art classes going on there too, and business classes for Precon. Those are, I mean, those are the, the real, to me, that's, those are the real. Money. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like you go in, I love a platform class. I love being able to pop into a platform class, but the intensives I think are really, really cool. So that's gonna be good. IPC is gonna be a fun night. Um, that's Monday night. And then of course we have the word degree ceremony and then the closing party, which you know is my favorite. Yes, that is your favorite. I, I don't normally make it to the closing party. I know, but I'll be, I'll be dancing the night away. Yeah. There's a lot, there's a lot of things I'm excited about. Um, I know Lindsay Adler has a class. I know that my, our great friend, um, Jen Lenga has a, a pet photography class. Actually her and I'll be coming straight from Paris together. Um, Lindsay, Jen and I, um, do straight in. Oh, I know. Um, but she's got a dog topography building a pet brand, which she has nailed it in New York City. Oh, Jen has done such an amazing job with that. Yeah, and if you want inspiration like galore, uh, Sophia Barrett has got in a class, her work. If you haven't seen her work, please look it up. Her, um, maternity work is just insane. It's just so beautiful, and the intention behind every single session is so inspiring. Um, just to name a few, those are just off the top of my head, like, I mean, there's so many, I, I'm sure Julianne is teaching. I know Katrina Eman is teaching as well. Christie Newell, if you're interested in boudoir, obviously our friend Christie. Great. Um, always does a great job, um, with her work. So beautiful, so many powerful female speakers. I hate, I don't hate that. Hate say it. I don't hate that either. And I'm like, oh yeah, I'm gonna say it. It's true. Um, but just so incredibly. Um, I don't know, just a lot of really inspiring classes. Um, you know, head shots, obviously we had the OG Gary Hughes doing that and mm-hmm. Um, McKayla is teaching a sales class? I believe so. Oh, that's awesome. Um, yeah, I'm looking at these precon too, just popping. Uh, of course, Jeff. Oh, and Susan Michael, our friend Susan's doing a dance photography. Oh, Susan's, okay, great. Okay. Oh, her dance stuff is gorgeous. Yeah, that's amazing. Uh, Jeff Carpenter is doing mastering multi light portraits. That's a precon. Uh, my friend Carol Denda is doing Mastering the Chaos, uh, which is a family session live demo, which I know everybody's looking for new ideas on, on what to do there. But, um, gosh, I'm calling John Gress. Oh, of course, John. Oh, Johnny Grass. Yeah. We love John. Congrats to the team USA and all the finalists. Oh yeah. Amazing. We saw some finalists, uh, John Gress, uh, Tom Munoz and Dam Lanahan are some of our friends that have some images in that. Um, do, do, I'm scrolling down the list, Mary of. Oh, Sabrina Cassas, uh, her real estate photography is amazing, if that's something you're interested in. She has a pre-con, her work is stellar. Um, so if you're interested, I know that she does an amazing job with her, um, real estate photography, which a lot of us like to do kind of on the side type of thing. So yeah, real estate photography. There's also, if you're interested in that too, there's a. Uh, platform class by Jonathan Lee, who is a mm-hmm. Kind of, um, newer to the speaking circuit photographer that I know outta Jacksonville. And he is doing, um, uh, a real estate photography class as well. And I, you know, those are the kind of classes that, there's a lot of stuff that goes into that that I think a lot, most photographers don't know. You know, like, um, you think, oh, I'm a photographer. I could just go in and photograph a room without somebody in it. I, I know I couldn't without taking some classes. Absolutely not. No, absolutely not. And uh, Dan is doing a senior portrait class, Dan McClanahan as well, so. So that'll be, did did you see his latest? Did you see his latest family? You know, he's got these epic family portraits that he does and he's done this one family for 10 years. Yep. Where they, every year did it. This latest one, it just blows my mind. It's this whole family. They're like, they're winning awards and then a trap door goes and all the kids fall through the trap door. They're like hanging on to each other. I mean, I don't know how he does that. It's like elevator shaft. The elevator shaft. Yep. Mm-hmm. Oh, you gotta go check that out on his Instagram. Yeah. It's amazing. Oh, and Sandra Pierce. Sandra Pierce is doing, uh, Photoshop painting. So. That's always a good, good little, good little thing to learn and all the parties and all the things and all the networking and of course the amazing trade show. So, um, yeah, uh, I'll be there. I know Kira will be there and we hope to see you there. So again, email us, let us know what you think. Let give us some ideas 'cause we're gonna sit down and, um, actually, hopefully, I haven't told Keira yet, but we're gonna try to have a face-to-face meeting at imaging maybe that last day or something. Maybe I'll stay an extra day so we can actually really. Be a little more intentional with the podcast and work on some things, but we're excited. Right, Kira? We're excited. I'm so excited. Yay. Yes. I'm so excited. It's gonna be so much fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. Don't forget, you can also sign up for my four week workshop that's gonna be starting in February. Go to boss level ai.com if you're interested in taking a chat. GPT Intensive with me. Four weeks, guys. It's not every day, it's just two hours a week. Monday afternoons. Just to get, if who knows, maybe I'll be there' cause God knows I can learn something. I'd love to have you there. I would love to be there. Uh, pop in. Do a little pop in, I'll Hi. Um, alright guys, you can follow us on Instagram and get your shoot together. You can follow us on Facebook at Get Your Shoot Together. You can email us at Girl at Get Your shoot together.com and subscribe to us everywhere where podcasts are played. We will see you guys next time. Thanks y'all.