From Kimberly, the host of The Cinnamon Effect:
“In this episode of "Capturing Confidence: The Empowerment of Boudoir Photography," host Kimberly Hand sits down with photographer Shannon Griffin to delve into Shannon's inspiring journey towards self-confidence and empowerment. Shannon opens up about her unexpected path to motherhood and how becoming a mom has greatly influenced her perspective on life and her work as a boudoir photographer. Through the struggles and triumphs she has faced, Shannon has learned to embrace her own beauty and strength, allowing her to connect with her female clients on a deeper level. Throughout the conversation, Shannon highlights the importance of women discovering what truly makes them feel sexy and confident. She emphasizes that boudoir photography is not just about pleasing partners, but about empowering women to embrace their unique beauty and build self-esteem. Shannon Griffin is an intimate portrait photographer whose process is S L O W, highly interactive and contemplative. Her photographs evoke a feeling of strength in the rawness of a woman's life. Her clients become their own muse; and Shannon creates experiences where women feel beautiful, important, powerful and most importantly, valued. She gets to know the women that she photographs on a deep level before ever putting them in front of her lens; believing that the truest art begins with feeling and not technicality. Shannon wants other women to feel empowered when they see her work. Instead of comparison, she hopes they will see themselves in the women that she photographs. Tune in to this episode to learn more about Shannon's journey and how boudoir photography can be a powerful tool for self-discovery and self-love.”
The transcript for anyone who might be hearing hearing impaired or wants to follow along.
0:09
welcome back to the cinnamon effect I'm Kimberly hand and today I have Shannon Griffin who is an intimate portrait
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photographer whose process is slow highly interactive and contemplative her photographs evoke a feeling of strength
0:23
and the rawness of a woman's life her clients become their own muse and Shannon creates experiences where women
0:29
feel beautiful important powerful and most importantly valued she gets to know
0:35
the women that she photographs on a deep level before even putting them in front of her lens believing that the truest
0:41
art begins with feeling and not technicality Shannon wants other women to feel empowered when they see her work
0:47
instead of comparison she hopes they will see themselves in the women that she photographs Shannon Griffin hi hi
0:55
thank you so much for coming here you I love being face to face with you me too
1:01
me too we uh connected over social media which is kind of a Common Thread in How
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I met a lot of really amazing people that I've had on the show and I really
1:12
connected I feel like I want to preface this with this conversation is definitely going to be more than about
1:21
photography this is when you look at your work um it's so beautiful it's so
1:28
raw I when you were when we were talking um before before this you were telling
1:35
me a little bit about your process and how it is slow and you really get to learn a lot about your client and who
1:41
they are and what their goals are and I think it really shows in what you
1:46
produce so will you tell me a little bit about your process yeah sure so the
1:51
first time someone inquires with me I send them my process page um I actually have a question on my inquiry form
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that's kind of like my red red flag question um that ask what's your intention of working together and they
2:03
can either select a quick session with a few prints or to create art together so I kind of know immediately if they just
2:09
want a quick session they're probably not going to like my process so I talk to them a little bit and say why don't
2:15
you look this over and then if this looks like what you were envisioning let's move forward with a questionnaire
2:20
and Discovery call so this is where a lot of people will drop off cuz they'll see like we're going to spend weeks
2:26
together kind of getting to know each other and if people aren't wanting to go to that vulnerable space this is where
2:31
some of them will be like your photos are beautiful but it's not really my intention or what I'm looking for I just want some sexy photos and I'm like
2:38
that's not what we're doing here so um once we move to that questionnaire
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that's where we really go deep where I'm asking them some some questions where they have to sit and think and um
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sometimes there's some silence and I like that where I ask the question and they're like I don't know I hadn't
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really thought about that and I'm like okay we'll sit here and I I want to wait for that answer um just holding that
3:02
space for them that I feel like especially mothers we don't get a lot of that it's a lot of us setting the
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intentions it's a lot of us taking care of everybody else so it's a space where a woman can come in and I can say I've
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got you and there's nothing you can say that's going to turn me off from you and this is a judgment free zone um a big
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big big part of my process um is I get vulnerable too so I would never expect
3:25
someone to come to me and put their heart out there and me just be like oh hey thank you for sharing that with me
3:31
it's very much a give and take to where I'm creating that space because they're about to come to me and be naked or half
3:39
naked or just being in front of the camera in general is a very vulnerable thing and so I want to get to know them
3:45
on that level first where that vulnerability starts with the connection before they ever step in front of my
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camera so it's really getting to know them and them getting to know me they should trust me just as much as we
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should build that up together yeah so your your style you have like a how do
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you articulate what your style is because when I see it it it is Art it is
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I I've done like budoir photo shoots and I know maybe you could be categorized in
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that way somehow but it's it's really so much more than that yeah there's like a
4:20
story behind every photo I would say the quickest way to get the point across is that I photograph for women and not for
4:26
men it's not for the male gaze so and it's it's so Broad and vast because
4:33
what's sexy to one person could be completely different to somebody else and I have this amazing story where a couple months ago I photographed an
4:39
Orthodox Jewish woman and these photos will never see the light of day and she can't even share them with her friends
4:45
like not only her husband and herself know um and she's going to share her story I'm just going to keep it Anonymous and one of the neatest
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takeaways that I got from this is I my clients are constantly teaching me new things about just holding that space and
5:00
being inclusive and things I had thought about so when we were planning she was talking about okay I've picked out this
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laundry and this lingerie and I'm like okay well most women start in some kind of dress or robe and then they start to undress because it's vulnerable to just
5:14
put yourself out there and I showed her some wardrobe selections I had selected for her and we had to have a phone call
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because she was so in like stuck in this head space of I feel so vulnerable in a
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dress because even when she wears a dress she's covered her arm her an are covered and she's like my own
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husband doesn't even see me he sees me in lingerie but like I don't even see myself in a dress and so me thinking oh
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my gosh like I'm sitting here just like lingerie like most women would be uncomfortable in that aspect so knowing
5:46
that every woman's so different what she finds vulnerable is different what she finds sexy is different and really
5:51
uncovering that and those happen to be her favorite photos of her in the dress but they're also the scariest to her
5:58
she's still like it's been a couple months since she's gotten her artart and she's like I still have a hard time
6:03
looking at it because I don't I don't get to see myself that way but they're also my favorite so I think that like I
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love that women go into it a little bit nervous and scared because there's something there like there's something pulling you and I'm like let's discover
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that like that's the part that I want to get to yeah so yeah that was a long answer but I think really I photograph
6:23
for women like truly photograph for women and yes a lot of times their partner gets the benefit of seeing the
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photos but I tell them is if you're confident there's no way that your partner is not going to think that these are the sexiest things yes and they love
6:36
it I feel like yeah I've done it twice um and definitely more of a gosh I I
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don't even know how to describe it but one was like a wedding gift to my husband and then one again was like when
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he turned 40 and I did it again and I had like different hair color between the two so I'm like here I've just given
6:55
you like two different women your mistress you're welcome a blonde
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and a red head you're welcome amazing it's amazing yeah so if you didn't know the secrets
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out I I am a natural blonde you're a rarity yeah yeah exactly
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did you enjoy the process like was that did you feel very vulnerable like did you enjoy it I think the first time you
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know what's funny is the first time um I felt very nervous and after I did it I
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was like wow this was really really empowering for me um the second time I
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did it I think I was more confident in my in my own skin and in my body and so
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I it was actually like even like maybe more Pro provocative or like sexy at
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that point and so now I'm like oh gosh that's been um that's been almost 10 years ago like if I did another one what
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would that be like different completely cuz you're just evolving all the time and now being a mom completely different
7:58
yeah post having a baby like that's you know interesting and why do you think
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why do most women come to see you I think a big part of it is my
8:10
process I think a big part of it is um we're the caretakers and so we want
8:15
something that's just just for us and I think it goes along with what you were
8:20
saying of how much you changed just in 10 years how much you Chang after you've had a baby and so many of us lose our
8:26
identity after we have a baby we know that we've become stronger in a lot of ways but it's I'll never be that version
8:32
of her again and I don't know who that is and I want to explore who that is there are women who come to me who have
8:39
never explored what they think is sexy or beautiful or whatever else and they're like I don't know I've always
8:44
just done what my husband thought was sexy the laundry I've bought has always been for him and now I really want to
8:50
see what I want out of this and what I think is beautiful so it's like redefining that confidence and some
8:57
women have never had that before and they're exploring it for the first time so I really do think it is that like
9:03
exploration a lot of women have just never taken that and you know a lot of people are like why would you do budoir isn't that Vain and and it's goes so far
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beyond the photo it's the experience it's taking that time for yourself and exploring those avenues that maybe
9:16
you've never looked into before yeah and it I fully I know it's cliche but it can be life-changing if you really like go
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into it open and vulnerable and really explore those areas and I've seen it improve people's sex lives cuz now I
9:30
know what I think is sexy and now I come into the bedroom like no I want to wear this and I want to look this way or just the way I carry myself every day is
9:37
different yeah isn't it amazing that photos can do that I I think um yeah the
9:43
process it was very rewarding um and I but I think you you are even I mean
9:49
you're just this is way more indepth and it's so I can't wait for all of you guys to see her art because it is like it's
9:57
beautiful I mean our people printing these in like large format and like their home and yeah cuz it's so artistic
10:05
that's the end goal for me is the large wall art and like of course I have some clients like that worod do like she they're in a box like in a case matted
10:13
prints in her closet but every client's going to get some kind of printed artwork that's very I mean I've done photography my whole life I started on
10:19
film I still shoot a lot of film so it's very like from start to finish I need to
10:24
be the one that's like for me handing over a digital is like handing over a negative I'm like now you figure out what to do with it and people are like I
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don't know and a lot of times people never do anything with it so this is my way of saying I have a controlled environment I know how it should look I
10:37
know how it should be displayed I'm going to take all of this off of you because I know how overwhelming it is I mean I'm the cobbler's child right like
10:45
I serious I have no photos up in my house because this is what I do for a living and when I sit down with all my photos I'm like this is so overwhelming
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so for me I want to take that away and and take care of that so but the main goal is large wall art because so many
10:59
of my clients are already art collectors or they go to museums and they really appreciate it they'll have portraits
11:06
paintings of nude women but then the thought of putting themsel up is so like a different world for them so I'm trying
11:11
to bridge that gap of why can't you be your own art like why can't you when you walk in your home see yourself and what
11:19
would that do for your self-esteem what would that do if your children saw that when they walked into the home think
11:24
about if my mom would have done a session like that when I was young and if I have those photos after she passed is like what would that do for for me to
11:31
know that my mom like valued herself enough and thought she was worthy of that so yeah the Engle is definitely I
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just did a huge wall Gallery in a client's home um she did it for her 40th she surprised her husband so I had my
11:44
installer come in while he was at work he thought she was giving a large painting for their anniversary cuz they were talking about the budget and he
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came home and he was not expecting seven huge like a whole wall of her wow so
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yeah it's pretty cool like that's the stuff that I'm like that lights me up that's amazing she gets to see it every day in her bedroom like her Sanctuary
12:03
yeah and to feel beautiful and and remember that feeling of going through that process and and obviously you have
12:10
like Unearthed that that confidence from them in front of the in front of the lens so I love that were you always tell
12:19
me about your journey in photography like were you always photographing women or did it kind of evolve into that so I
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got my first film camera when I was 16 and I used to every weekend take pictures of my best friend like she
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would model for me we' go ride our bikes to Walgreens go to 1 Hour Photo we' we'd play in Walgreens and then wait and come
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back so every time it was like magic every time we'd go through the photos so what's so neat about that is now doing
12:42
the in-person like ordering session where we sit down and I help them select and figure out I've PL designed walls
12:48
and stuff like that it takes me back to being 16 where I my the biggest Joy was
12:54
watching her face as she's seeing these photos and I was in person with her like watching it so that's come full circle
13:00
where I get to sit with them and they see a slideshow and they're sitting there like that's me that's not me I'm
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like that's you that's I I don't do a lot of Photoshop like that's you wow and
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so that part that part's really magic so I went to school for photography went to the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale
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they're closed now um and then I started in weddings which I feel so many
13:21
photographers do and then in 2020 I stepped I was like it's time to step away I I can't do weddings anymore I loved my clients but it was just I I
13:29
have really bad anxiety and like the week leading up to weddings I would feel ill and it was just see that a lot of
13:35
pressure you can't call out like if you have the stomach flu you're literally throwing up in the trash can and like shooting so it was a lot of pressure and
13:42
then in 2020 I was like I just want to do voir and families and I took it off my website and then a week later I ended
13:48
up getting like my dream client who was the first one to go through my new process she spent $40,000 with me like
13:55
yeah on a family port it was incredible and I was like okay I'm I'm My Own like validation I can do this because before
14:01
I just watch other people do it and I was like could I do that with my limited beliefs and then it happened so um no
14:08
more weddings just family and budoir and it's been the best thing to just focus on that and be able to give all to that
14:14
wow but I've only done photography so I'm like thank God this has worked out because I don't know what I would
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do it's your calling and wait say are you a Florida girl um Jacksonville yeah
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so North Florida okay yeah I'm born and raised down here you're one of the my husband is too it's
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very rare So Rare my husband is as well so yeah but there's not that many of us
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trans a lot of New Yorkers especially yeah a lot of transplants oh my gosh
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um so it sounds like you have done a lot of inner work to get to this place and
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to be able to be a space holder and facilitate this for other women so can do you want to share anything
14:56
about your journey get like know I feel like you're I feel like you're so open
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and actually in our first conversation we hit it off and and you were really open and honest with me and I love that
15:07
I I love someone that can like go deep with me in the first five minutes I'm always like how deep because I can go a
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little like how much do you want to know I know I know I love that go deep girl whatever you want to talk about um I'm
15:19
very much like you know I want everyone to be able to tell their own story but for me I was married before and um it
15:26
wasn't great and we were in therapy for years there was a lot of infidelity on his part and I started to notice I used
15:33
to be a very confident woman and I started to notice my self-esteem and I would look in the mirror and like so
15:39
many women do when they find something so traumatic is is it me am I not wearing enough makeup am I too skinny am
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I too bit like just everything that I could think I tried to buy pretty lingerie like all of it and nothing was
15:52
working it wasn't me I wasn't the issue but I couldn't mentally I couldn't get to that place because he was my whole
15:57
world and when you find out something like that's betrayal and it's devastating so what ended up happening
16:03
is I was photographing these women and I was seeing that I was making them feel seen so even though I wasn't getting it
16:10
there was a way that I could give that to somebody else and it was almost a way of therapy for me where I'm like okay they're happy and I'm giving them away
16:17
to to get through whatever they're getting through so I started to notice that's when it was really evolving as
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when I was in a really dark place because it was it was my light and it was my way of of therapy and and I I
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remember when I was getting out of that marriage and with my now husband um I was really worried because as artists
16:36
we're told like you make the best art when you're depressed and you should live in that you think of like Picasso and all of that and I was like I'm
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scared that if I get happy my art is going to fumble and what I started to
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realize is it just changed and the art kind of remained the same but I was in a
16:53
better place that I was actually better and showed up more for my clients because I could hold that for them
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better and I could I was in a healthy place to where they could tell me something and I would carry it for a
17:05
little bit but then I could let it go whereas before I was just like living in that drama like constantly so I think
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that's kind of how it evolved to where it is now is it started in a dark place but now it's just like it's my
17:17
everything it's my light like I I can't even if I won the lottery tomorrow like I would still wake up and do this
17:23
because it's it's all I know like it's really all I know and women are just
17:29
love women well you really capture the beauty I mean I think you there's women
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pregnant women and yeah there is some lingerie it's so Tastefully done it's
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it's beautiful I love it um I was so drawn to it also drawn
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to what you're saying behind all of that too so when we got on the phone um we
17:52
connected talking about being mothers and kind of mothers I guess like SL
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slightly older end of the spectrum right like we started a little bit later both you and I so um but you had some
18:06
interesting thoughts about your motherhood Journey uh which I connected with too so do you want to share about
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that sure so full honesty never wanted to be a mother I didn't have the maternal Gene in my body um and my now
18:21
husband and I had actually had conversations whereas like if you want kids like I need to know because I don't want them and I would never be upset if
18:28
you wanted them I would want you to move on like fully want you to have your own life and be happy and he was like no I
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want I want you more than I want kids so that was our plan we adopted a puppy and then a week after we adopted him I found
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out that I was pregnant so yeah that was fun um and I don't know I don't know
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what it was I was just I was 38 and I was like okay I've I've done the traveling I'm with someone who I see
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being with for a long time I'm happy in this relationship I'm happy in my business and I I mean I guess like let's
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do this and so we moved forward um and a big thing for me when Moms come to me is
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I don't want them to feel like they have to preface anything with I love my child but like you never have I know you love
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your child I want to be a space where you can tell me how awful it is at times and so I've from the beginning as a way
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of my kind of Journey and healing as I've shared my story I felt very lied to I felt like how I know everyone's
19:27
experience is different and there's women who really want children and they love it and they're like yeah it's hard but I love it I'm like how could no one
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have come to me and been like this might not be the best thing this might be the biggest mistake you make so for me I
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wanted to come out and say this is awful like the first year of her life I was
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very depressed very anxious had the rage all of it and I just felt invisible and
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I felt like am I the only one that feel like am I a bad mom am I the only one who feels this way and when I started po
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ing about it woman after woman after woman was inboxing me she's like I could never say this but I feel like I can
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trust you and this is how I feel yeah and so I've been fighting it and fighting it and I honestly feel like as
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of maybe two months ago I'm starting to come on the other side where I'm starting to be like I'm not as resentful
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this wasn't a mistake and and and you know that's not easy to say but I think it's important to say and I'm very
20:26
honest with women who are on the fence about having a child I'm like if it's not a resounding yes it's a no it's a no it is no matter how
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good your relationship is with your partner it's going to change no matter how great your business is it's going to change um but there's also I want to be
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honest to say there's a lot of Pros to it too I feel like you and I talked about my grace with mothers and the space that I hold for them now of just
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you need a reschedule no problem I know that's like your kid got hand foot and mouth oh my God can I send you some meal
20:53
like oh God the oh my God yeah so like that space of just okay okay I have to
20:59
do our ordering session but my son's homesick today can he be can he be at it with us absolutely yeah take as many
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breaks as you need I've got you so it's it's changed me in a lot of really great
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ways too so I say I'm going to keep check on me in a year and see how I feel I feel like I'm getting less and less
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resentful and I know it sounds awful but it's it changed my as someone who never wanted a kid and was very happy with
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where I was it was like throwing a wrench in it to where now it's all about her like nothing is about me anymore and
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so adjusting to that has been it's been a lot it's a lot it's a lot and I
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appreciate that Honesty from you because that is something that uh mothers we
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don't talk about it and there's not a mother that I know that hasn't struggled
21:48
hard you know and I think it's always the ones that can be open and honest
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about their feelings of this this is not what I thought it was going to be
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those are the moms I see that like love the hardest because they're so you know
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you're really putting a lot of thought into the decision to do it you know to have a child and and really what what
22:12
all that comes with I think being an older mom and I mean I say that like lightly I know mother people are having
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babies into their you have to consider we are older moms yeah and so I was like 36 when I had my son and I thought oh my
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God this is I get it why people have kids much earlier because first of all it's like really hard on
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body my skin ised 10 years and yeah yeah
22:37
it definitely it hits different when you're like you know older 30s into the 40s and um yeah so can we just normalize
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that Mom struggle it doesn't mean that you don't love the [ __ ] out of your kids
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I'm it's the biggest psychot me like I'm so obsessed with her it's this is how I try to explain it to someone who doesn't
22:57
have kids and I'm like try to take this with a great of salt I know this is going to sound awful if I could go back
23:02
not knowing how much I would love her I would not choose this now that I know her and love her of course like I I
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would jump in front of a train for her she's my whole life but if I could go back not knowing this love I would not
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choose this again it's the hardest thing I've ever done and it's I just can't
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even now the rest of my life I have someone my heart living outside of my body and I will worry about her the rest
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of my life I will never sleep the way that I used to sleep I will not take care of myself the way that I used to because I have someone else now that
23:30
means more than me and that's hard that's really hard I feel that same way about my son I mean he is my life I I
23:37
told somebody he was my soulmate the other day and they were like wait what and I was like yeah I know that sounds
23:43
weird but he is my he is I I feel like I know him on I don't know he was in my
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body like he's your DNA he's my DNA like and he looks like me and it's just it's
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all these things you know it just I know him on such a deep level I know the
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moment like he just had diagnosed with an ear infection and he goes oh my my
24:07
ear like just the slightest he was like and I was like I think you have like I feel like I just know like I have this
24:14
intuition about what he needs at every second you know yeah cuz you're in tune to him yeah I feel like so dialed in you
24:20
know um but I kind of had the same you know a little bit of the same Journey where my husband and I well first when I
24:27
started dating him he said he never wanted to get married and he never wanted to have kids sounds like me yeah
24:32
and I was like um okay so I wasn't really sure either to be honest with you
24:38
you could have gone either way I could have gone either way and I was like well we could live like goldian and Kurt Russell and you know and just do this
24:44
thing for a little while and um and then uh he wanted to get married actually it
24:51
was kind of like he cuz I thought I'm not going to talk about it I'm not going to bring this up not going to be that kind of ultimatums none of that so one
24:58
day he came and he was like well what do you I don't know what would you think about getting married you know and then
25:04
the baby conversation it was like actually I don't drink anymore but I was drinking a lot of red wine and I was
25:10
like I looked at him and I was like I want a baby and he was like what like
25:16
let's talk about this in the morning when you're having coffee let's see how you feel yeah so I was like 35 at the
25:22
time and he's like well what do you mean you want a baby like right now like what's going on you know so then we did
25:28
and honestly the that little guy is the best thing that ever happened to the both of us and we are so over the top in
25:37
love you know but the journey is not so cut and dry for everyone you know and um
25:43
and also I struggled postpartum as well but you know and I think because your
25:49
daughter's what three she's two and a half two and a half so okay so you still like that's a very tricky pH I'm in
25:56
everyone's like wait until they're five everyone says five like the M they're like you'll start dating your husband again I'm like I don't even talk to him
26:02
I don't know what that looks like we're just toddler talk all day like yes yes
26:07
that hard yeah the dating the redating of the the spouse is an interesting
26:12
process I mean I try to think of I'm like what are we going to what do we we try to talk to each other now we're like
26:18
did you get her shampoo did you like I just can't even cuz everything is that world right now or if we even try to
26:23
have a conversation she's trying to talk to us so it's like table it we'll talk on the weekend like we days we don't
26:30
we're roommates like we're just like let's survive this thing yeah and it's true it's true I you know my son's eight
26:37
and he's so and he's an only child so he he's one of the you know he thinks we
26:43
move as a unit through life and like we're all we're like always all together you know and most of the time we are but
26:50
same thing we we try and have a conversation and he is right in the mix like what do you mean or you know and I
26:58
love that but at the same time we do the same thing too we're like my husband will be like can we just go can we like
27:03
just go here and like talk for a little bit Yeah like let's do it we need to I'm
27:09
looking forward to those days that's our weekend right now she goes she doesn't nap on the weekend she already dropped naps she drop naps at 2 which is wild
27:16
but we love it cuz on the weekend she goes to bed at 6:30 and so we actually get like those are our Saturday and
27:21
Sunday are like what do you want to watch on Netflix what do you want to and of course we just end up like scrolling our phones cuz we just like I just want
27:27
to disassociate I don't want to talk to anybody you just want to V but we lay next to each other so we're like oh hi H
27:34
yeah you could like touch or it's so sad it's so sad but it's a season I truly
27:39
believe that it's a season and it's already so much better than it was when she was a baby so like that's how I keep
27:44
looking forward like it's just going to get better it's just going to get better and it does it does and as they evolve
27:49
into their who they become is very magical to you know to watch that um
27:55
okay so back to the women back to oh I mean we we are you know I but I kind
28:01
of want to know because I've done the I've done somewhat of you know this type of um
28:08
photo shoot but for outfits how do you how do you kind of draw out what someone
28:15
wants to wear do you have stuff that people wear a great question so I actually on the questionnaire when of
28:22
the I have a couple questions where do you shop where's someone shopping for your birthday where do you love to
28:27
travel travel tell me about the aesthetic of your home so I'm really trying cuz it's full picture where if
28:33
I'm going to be creating wall art for them I want them to dress kind of in the colors of their house which normally
28:39
your house is going to be kind of your aesthetic anyway so are they more traditional would they love like a decl
28:44
hand torn print and matted with a like you know Venetian silver frame or are they more modern would they like an
28:50
acrylic print so I'm thinking about all of these things from the very beginning things that Inspire them what art do you
28:55
already collect because then if it's like s paintings I'm like oh yeah we're going to have fun so really getting to
29:01
know are you more do you like the abstract photos more like the really artistic Black and Whites do you like
29:07
like where are you leaning so asking these and then what I do is I create a shoppable wardrobe for them on Pinterest
29:13
so I create a board where I have inspiration photos that we've looked at together and then shoppable where okay I
29:19
know the colors of her home I know kind of where she shops um maybe she's more
29:24
of a Reformation kind of woman like I'm totally just like feeling it out and then I have like full shoppable where I
29:31
have like five lingerie options I have some dress options and it really depends are they doing the session on the beach
29:37
are they doing it with plaster walls are they doing it in their home cuz all of this is going to like factor into what
29:43
they're wearing um I know a lot of photographers do like client wardrobe I don't do that cuz everyone's so
29:49
different and I want them to come out I don't want them to wear the same dress that five other women have worn or whatever else I want their voice to come
29:55
out um a lot of women come in not really being lingerie wearers and then they're
30:01
like well I and I'm like but you don't have that's the thing you don't have to like it doesn't you could wear jeans and a tank top with no bra you could be
30:08
naked you could wear a dress that's falling off your back like so really this is where getting to know them
30:13
really comes in and then curating each client has a different curated wardrobe that I do for them and then they kind of
30:20
just go shop it yeah and I'm like if you need more help if you have stuff in your closet you already love text me some
30:26
photos and we'll kind of go through that and and see and I try to limit it to at the most three looks because my big
30:33
thing is it's not about the clothing and when they finally the first 20 minutes
30:38
are going to be uncomfortable it like most people don't like being in front of the camera it's very awkward we're
30:43
getting to know each other like face to face and so I don't when they start to get in it the last thing I want is okay
30:50
stop change your wardobe so I'm like let's keep it very simple like two maybe
30:56
and then that's where we'll kind of go from there and then if we have extra time and they want to change then maybe one more
31:01
outfit or nude how long is your session typically usually about an hour it just
31:06
depends if it takes them longer to get into it then I'll you know take as much time I'm very I take a Max of two
31:12
sessions a month I'm very limited because I want it to be like fully if we
31:18
schedule your session and it's raining or something happens and we need to do the day before or the day after if you get sick and we need to reschedule I
31:24
like to have that space for them um I also with my anxiety and and I'm an
31:30
introvert so when I do these sessions it's like therapy like I take a lot on
31:35
and after the session I need like a week before I even look at their photos like I'm seriously like all the next day I'll
31:41
be watching Netflix in bed all day like I fully have to like recharge yes so so
31:47
yeah so that's that's basically I mean I think I think that's the rundown yeah
31:52
that's so interesting but I love that you honor yourself as well in the process that you're like you know your
31:58
capability is and you do you create Magic and so I could see how that would be exhausting yeah and I like I Mentor
32:06
other artist and you know I fully believe that you should I ask what does
32:11
it take to do your best work ask for that and I know myself and it's not boundaries are a love language and so if
32:18
I need that time if I need I know there are photographers that do sneak peeks or they like do the session and then right
32:24
after they sit down and they have them select like on a computer and I'm just not built like that like it I fully let
32:30
them know it's going to be about a month before you even see your photos but that's another part that I love is I
32:36
truly believe that there's Beauty in the tension and I love having tension with the clients because you think about
32:41
things that you've waited for and how important those things are and you think about art and creating art and I want to
32:47
sit and curate their photos I want to go through and say if I cropped it this way or if I turned it upside down or if I
32:52
turn this black and white or add some grain or or if I'm waiting for my film to come back from the lab I like that
32:58
time and then wall designs take me sometimes take me a week because if like
33:04
I'm looking at it and I need a step away and then come back and go okay do I like these photos together what sizes and I
33:10
have a program where I put bare walls in it and you can see what it'll look like on their walls to scale which is amazing
33:16
oh cool but it does I'll like look at inspiration photos on Pinterest and then come back and go okay do I like this layout okay they have stairs here this
33:22
is going to so it takes me a while and my clients fully trust that process though and they're not emailing like can
33:28
I see the photos can I you know and I think it does help that most of my clients are 40s and like they're patient
33:35
they're like I don't need to see a photo of me tomorrow it's okay I can wait it's not that big of a deal and I like
33:40
creating that time and tension and just like waiting for it so that it's beautifully curated so that when they
33:46
see their photos it's not like 300 photos it's like these are 60 of the most beautiful photos that I could take
33:51
of you now which ones are your favorite and let's pick those such a process I love it it I love that so much fun so
33:59
much fun I'm like I get to do this for a living that's crazy right um have you
34:05
had any uh experiences with clients like memorable like that you you just told us
34:11
about the the woman that is not really ever seen in a dress I mean every client
34:17
every client has a unque story right and most of them like I this morning I had coffee with a client I photographed over
34:24
two years ago and we still meet like every six months um the one that I just said the huge
34:29
wall gallery of um we get coffee regularly I'm emailing I'm sending handwritten cards we're calling each
34:36
other like it's you know we do become really close with each other cuz they're like that woman the Orthodox woman's
34:42
like do you do therapy cuz I can't even talk to women in my community about like stuff like this and I'm like well no
34:47
like I no I don't I you should hire a professional but but yeah we become we become friends because I know parts of
34:54
them that they are not even telling their sisters or their moms or sometimes their spouse so it's a very very personal I feel like every woman teaches
35:01
me get out of it and I'm I'm so grateful for them like I truly believe the women
35:07
got me through my last marriage I feel like they got me through my postpartum like it's the only place that I slow
35:14
down when I have my camera out I'm not thinking about anything else and that's the only moment in my life that I'm just
35:20
like laser focused and for that hour is just magic and like for someone to trust
35:26
me to create that with them is like w the biggest honor to me biggest that really is That's So Special yeah a do
35:34
you ever do you take pictures of your daughter yes yeah I probably like a gazillion well I take a million iPhone
35:39
but I've actually I got my film camera out and I just have film sitting there and I'll pop it in every once in a while
35:44
but what's so cool is I have a couple roles and I want to wait until the end of the year so I'm going to send it all in to get developed and I don't want to
35:50
see them yet and I feel like cuz they change weekly so I'm like and I do I do
35:55
it with my my digital too um but I really the film ones make me like slow down I can't see them while I'm taking
36:01
them so it's like that I feel like will be magic when those come back to me so I'm trying to be better about like real
36:07
camera taking photos of her cuz there is a difference and videos like I've been getting my I have a beautiful digital
36:14
camera that takes gorgeous video and so I'm trying to be better cuz I love photos but there's something about sound
36:19
and being able to hear her little voice years from now is going to be magic I know that's what they say about the
36:25
voice and I know especially with like little boys they're like capture that Bo oh my go before it Chang
36:30
before I know it's already evolving you know at 8 and I'm like oh little mov cry
36:36
thinking about that I know I I can't I know I know my guy just uh lost his two
36:42
front teeth and so I'm like how do we just capture this you know I mean it's
36:47
such a special moment in time take a million photos take a million videos just do it just do it oh my gosh and
36:53
like a little like almost lisp that happens when I know I'm not I'm not ready for her to
36:59
lose her teeth it's we've got a while but I'm like oh there is something about that um mil stone that I was not ready
37:07
for I'm sure I'll tell you and then I was like and he's actually one of the last ones in his class to kind of lose
37:12
both of them and I was I cried I did I cried yeah I'll cry it's funny when
37:19
things hit you that you're like why is that hitting me it's teeth yeah but it's like you know what's what's his grownup
37:25
teeth are coming what does that what does that mean he's up totally changes the look of their face though you know and oh my gosh I
37:32
know I'm not I'm not prepared I'm so not prepared there's so many things coming that I'm like M I just want to put her
37:39
in a bubble like mm I know I know but someone was saying you know to
37:45
me you don't ever want to say that you don't want them to grow up you you know you want to have them evolve into all
37:52
these you know different phases and each one is so beautiful and just so different and special and so I'm excited
37:59
I'm excited to see who she is as a person cuz you have this idea of your child and I can't wait like I'm so
38:05
excited for that and I'm not a baby person like it was great but I want to see her in her like I feel like when
38:11
she's like in her 20s that's going to be my like Thrive like oh let's go have brunch I'm going to come visit you in
38:17
college like all of that and I love only having one cuz I'm like where are you moving to because Mommy's going to get a house 20 minutes
38:24
away I don't have to split between two children I know that's what I say to my son too
38:30
I'm like you know I'm following you he's like I know Mom you're like I'll find you I know hopefully his wife is okay
38:37
with that because I'm going to be around all the
38:42
time makes me try and have more Grace with my mother-in-law who's like a mom of boys you know it's hard with the boys
38:49
because they they tend to go off and yeah what do they say it's like the slowest breakup of your life too with a
38:56
boy get prepare yourself the tooth is already the teeth are like slowly preparing you it's coming know he's
39:03
growing sorry sorry I know um how did you meet your husband so I've known him
39:09
20 years yeah we met at the Olive Garden no way yeah yeah unlimited salad and
39:14
bread he was a salad maker and I was a server I transferred from the Jacksonville one like who transfers at
39:20
the Olive Garden like it's some five star restaurant it's like a great company though was so young and so we
39:25
met and we were actually like best friends for like six months I was with somebody else and then we broke up and
39:32
then we started dating and then we were so young it was one of those where it was just like timing and off and on 20s
39:39
and then I met my ex-husband down here and then we moved up to tasse for about
39:44
6 years and then when we were going through our separation we reconnected um I had put something cryptic on I'm not
39:51
someone who posts my business on Facebook like as far as like relationships or anything and he he saw
39:56
it and he just knew me so well and he's like are you okay we had talked in like a year he was actually at my wedding like that's how close we were and I was
40:02
like actually and then we talked for like 5 hours that night and then 3 months later I moved down here cuz I was
40:08
like if I could like if it doesn't work out I'm back in South Florida like there's great clients down here I'm not
40:14
happy in Tallahassee and so I was like what do I have to lose and here we are
40:20
wow oh and marri how long we've been married 3 years as of two this past two
40:25
two days ago it's been 3 years just our anniversary forgot I'm so bad with thanks he's like are we doing anything I
40:32
was like for what our anniversary I'm like a crap that's right yeah mine's coming up 14 years but we've
40:40
been together 20 actually this year I we thought it both thought it was next year that we've been together 20 years no
40:46
it's this year it's this year for us kind like Miss that like this summer will be 20 years that's wild we met
40:52
around the same time yeah babies yeah babies I know lifetime like it's crazy I
40:58
was like did you think that we would have a bit like 20 years later he's like no we were clubbing together like we
41:04
were we were I know I think about being up past 9 now and I'm like no no I'm
41:09
exhausted in fact um I not that long ago gosh what was I doing I don't know but I
41:15
I did not get a lot of sleep and I was like oh my God I cannot believe I used to do this on the rig you know and
41:21
drinking and not sleeping like that's a whole other Beast whole other I have two glasses of wine now on the say I'm like
41:27
I can't do anything yeah like incapacitated I know that's how I started to get and so I stopped drinking
41:33
cuz I was like I cannot I just cannot live um my husband and I have caught way
41:39
like I feel like breastfeeding seriously and it sounds awful kept me sober
41:44
because I was so depressed that I just wanted to drink and drink and drink and luckily like they say you can have a
41:50
couple drinks but I was so paranoid that I was like I'm not going to ruin her little body so like I just barely drank
41:56
and then when I stopped breastfeeding I went too hard again and and now like we're both like we don't want to we just
42:02
don't want to be those parents and then the next day we're exhausted and like we don't want to do anything with her and so we're very much like no this is not
42:09
going to be the lifestyle for us so we cut way back the same it's hard my
42:14
husband's cut back too um because of you know my choice but yeah I breastfed for
42:20
a long time too so it was like do you photograph um women breastfeeding my faor I wish I would have captured oh my
42:27
God I know I didn't have it professionally done of me uh well actually that's not true I did a session when she was 6 months and she took like
42:33
three or four photos so I do have those um and I would take a lot of selfies with my phone MH the sad thing I was
42:40
talking about this the other day maternity is probably my favorite thing to photograph but I don't get a ton of it because most of my clients are 40s
42:47
and already mothers just at my price point it's a lot of like established women and own their own business or work
42:53
or whatever else so I don't get a lot of pregnancy anymore so actually last month
42:58
um I did a creative shoot where I asked a pregnant woman I was like can I take photos cuz I just like I want to
43:03
photograph you pregnant because I love pregnant women so much but I've done a couple of breastfeeding specific
43:08
sessions and those are just like oh my gosh so special I have a lot of the
43:13
selfie of the boob at least you got at least you got that like can you imagine if you didn't even have that like I go
43:19
back through mine and I'm just like oh like mentally I needed to stop I was my goal was 2 years I made it to 18 months
43:26
and I was just my best friend was finally like and she's still breastfeeding her daughter is a week young so at 2 and a half which is just
43:33
like once once a day but she was the one that was like you have to stop cuz I was
43:38
getting ragy like when she was on me in the middle of the night I wanted to throw her and she's like you need to stop and so I was like it's time to stop
43:46
and it was harder on me than her it took one day and she was done and I was like oh yeah you know I built up the weaning
43:52
process in my head so much and I you know I bre said for a long time too and
43:59
uh towards the end it was like okay this is really Weighing on it was almost the buildup of it was so traumatic for me
44:06
like this is going to be so hard it's going to be a lot of tears and it was really there were more tears on my end
44:13
than his end you know like we were fine same same and I still like there are parts of me that miss it like the fact
44:19
that I'll never be able to bond with her like that again just different you know you breastfed and there's just this this
44:25
bonding to it that I won't have with her again but we bond in different ways now when she hugs me it's like oh my gosh
44:31
but it's very bettersweet but it was time it was time for me to walk away it was I was so done but it was so much
44:37
harder on me than it was she's like no big deal I eat so much food I don't care like yeah yeah like okay I know I know
44:43
like you don't miss me it's fine it's okay I know not a podcast about weaning
44:49
but I will say you know my advice for that too was I started talking to my son
44:55
same like like seating for like 2 months and I started saying you know you're
45:02
getting so much bigger now and you don't you're not going to need this you you're eating regular food and just kind of
45:07
like explaining what was going on and and one day soon we're not going to do this anymore and I love you with all of
45:13
my heart and the most in anything in the whole entire world you know and like just doing that and uh it seemed to I
45:20
think ease at least in my mind I was like this is this is why I love this age because it's it's truly helped with my
45:27
depression just the communicate when she started to be able to communicate it was life-changing for me I was like no more baby and that was I I picked her from
45:34
daycare and I was like mommy's milk went bye-bye because she understood that and she's like it went bye-bye and she was
45:40
like touching him and I was like yeah it went bye-bye so tonight no milk and she co-s sleeps with me and so we were in
45:47
bed and she went for it and I was like it's bye-bye and like I had a I made sure I had like a bra on and she cried
45:52
for about 10 minutes and then went to sleep and then the next night she didn't cry and it was done and I was like that
45:58
was it like all I had to tell her it was bye-bye like and then I was like why didn't I do this 6 months ago cuz I had
46:04
been mentally like done but it was it was the right timing for us and I think her being able to communicate was
46:11
lifechanging she was just like okay okay they're so smart they are smart yeah and
46:16
I think the talking the constant communication on your end it helps them yeah yeah and they can voice their
46:21
feelings and I know and there's a lot of those yeah feelings a lot of feelings
46:27
there are a lot of feelings yeah there are a lot of feelings what do you wish you could tell
46:33
your younger self about like where you're at today oh my
46:39
gosh um I think probably it's all going to be all right cuz everything seems so
46:45
huge when it's in front of you and it feels like how am I going to get through this and then when you're on the other side of it you're like oh okay I
46:51
survived it and just taking it one day at a time cuz I felt like how am I going to survive my divorce am I going to
46:57
survive pregnancy how am I going to survive the first year and then you get past it and you're so much stronger and
47:02
wiser and I think just being able to tell myself that like you're going to survive it and it's going to be okay like it will be okay and that's a
47:09
privilege that it has been okay but I think that's what I would have told myself yeah and you probably are helping
47:15
you probably have women in front of you going through really crazy times or experiences coming out of something and
47:23
wanting to you know commemorate that and so I'm sure you're you're able to like
47:28
help them through that yeah it's amazing yeah it's amazing since this is the cinnamon
47:35
effect um and the cinnamon effect is a metaphor for life that I I came up with
47:41
so it's not really related to Cinnamon but um it's the things in life that I
47:47
think make make it healthier sweeter more fulfilling and I want to know what
47:52
is something in your life that you think that you add to your life life that makes it that much better the
48:00
photography like I keep coming back to it but it's it's my space like when she goes to school in the morning I'm I'm so
48:06
happy to wake up every day and do what I do like I get right to my computer I'm emailing I'm talking to people um the
48:12
mentoring that I do other photographers I and it's not just photographers just artists in general like it feeds me to
48:19
and it's so funny because when I first started I was very like I hate the business part of it I just want to
48:24
create art and now as I'm getting older starting to flip where I'm like I love talking money like especially with other
48:30
women like I think it's important to talk about big sales I think it's important to say those numbers out loud
48:35
because men have been doing it for so long and that's where they got their confidence and I feel like women make themselves small like they don't want to
48:41
talk about their achievements cuz they feel like they just have to kind of hide in the shadows so really being able to
48:46
talk to other women and mentoring them of like mindset and like you should be proud of where you are and celebrate
48:52
every Milestone that you hit um so yeah I think those two things like getting to
48:57
to work with women and do that experience and getting to Mentor those are my two like really big things and then I'm when I go to pick my daughter
49:04
up I'm fulfilled so then I get to shut off at I'm done at 3:30 every day and then I just get to be a mom like I don't
49:10
have to check emails or any of that cuz I'm fulfilled I don't feel like I need that yeah you don't have to be
49:16
constantly monitoring all that are you mentoring in other genres of Photography
49:21
yeah oh okay so kind of everything anyone it's really people who are wanting to change their it's like establish artists so I'm not teaching
49:28
like lighting or anything like that it's just you already have a client base you're pretty established but you really
49:34
want it to be more art focused instead of just like a button Pusher so like how to work with clients and how to do like
49:39
wall art and stuff like that because it's overwhelming when you're first starting you don't you're like I don't even know where to print the work I don't know what lab to use so really
49:46
like that whole process and I tell it's scary it's scary at my price point and you're going to you know get a lot of
49:52
NOS but those yeses are life-changing and my clients the like I'm obsessed
49:57
with them as they're my friends so like changing that to where I'm happy I'm never burnt out and I love what I do is
50:05
huge that's amazing how did you get to that like uplevel place of commanding
50:11
more commanding more money higher price point so for me it was getting out of
50:17
the photography world because we learn from other photographers that are all doing it the same way like if you do in-person sales you're taught okay you
50:24
get them in low with a low commission fee or Fe like 300 bucks and then you make your end on the other side selling
50:30
the products and it felt scammy to me it felt salesy um the clients that I was
50:36
getting were people that could pay $300 but then they were like had to pay extra to buy their art and then they're like
50:41
but I not like there was this disconnect and I didn't feel confident and I was talking to someone outside of the
50:47
photography World he's an amazing stationer and he's like why aren't you charging more on the front end to work
50:53
with you because you're the artist and then they they get you they get that vision and then you're still selling the
50:59
pro the art in the end and I was like it was just like aha moment so just to work
51:04
with me is $1,500 and that's like you don't that's that's it but for me it's like if I'm only going to take two
51:10
sessions a month you're only I can only do so much and you're hiring me for the
51:16
experience I'm giving so much of myself and so that for me was a big like okay
51:22
and so my clients when they come in are already investing so much in me that like I trust you like we've gone through
51:29
this process together and so what it does is it allows me to if their session
51:34
takes an hour it's great if it takes four hours I don't care because I don't I'm not sitting there going I have to
51:39
make up for this I have to I have to book so many sessions I'm able to fully give myself to them and then if it takes
51:45
me a week to create wall art I have that space because I've charged enough for it so these are people that want me to hold
51:51
their hand and they want the finished art and that's not a ton of people but those people I only need so many people
51:57
to see the world the way that I see and so when we fit we're like it's it's magic like TR the people I work with it
52:04
is Magic when we work together yeah I do think you when what you put out like that high frequency like you're going to
52:10
attract that so I truly believe that yeah Shannon you're the best the I'm so
52:16
glad you were here and this is like I said it was so much more conversation of like being a woman and a mother and so I
52:23
love that so thank you for sharing with me where can people find you um I'm on Instagram to Shannon Griffin and then my
52:30
website is Shannon griffin.com so super easy just my name go check her out people she's amazing thank you and come
52:36
say hi yes yeah she's very active on Instagram so that's how we communicated and met and I love that so thank you and
52:44
now we're friends