Love Soaked Family Photography is almost open for enrollment! (+ a free sneak peek)

October 18, 2018 •

Hi buds. My course, Love Soaked Family Photography, is opening for enrollment for the last time in 2018 on October 22nd. Enrollment has been closed for months and will only be open for 7 days, so I want to give you all the heads up you need to check it out and see if it would be a good fit for you. You can read all the details + reviews here.

To kick off registration, I’m hosting a free class that outlines the 5 step framework for shooting families that I teach inside my paid course! This free class is only available on Monday, so reserve your seat here.

transformed

September 22, 2017 •

photographs have the power to transport us.
the heirlooms we get handed down in albums imprint the past onto our Now; being able to see our loved ones in their daily life and big moments lets us know them deeper, more nuanced and with richness we’d never see if not for the ability to have time’s grip released for a snippet frozen, never to pass by.
that’s a miracle that’s a bit lost on us with photos everywhere now.
so the part i really want to talk about is the ability of photographs to transform us.
because photos inhabit our world differently than they did for our grandparents; we can have one any time, anywhere, and we DO.
so why, really, have your family photographed by a professional photographer? you’ve probably got a decent camera or could borrow one, tripod it up and have a Christmas card pic in five minutes, right?

it’s a valid question.
i’ll warn you that my answer borders on hippie, but hear me out.
having my family’s photo taken is my chance every year to be seen.
it’s my chance to have the best parts of me and us blown up, with light that is someone else’s artistic vision shown on them. because having my family’s photo taken is always scoops of everything–one part unwilling kids going crazy, one sliver of self-consciousness, one husband slightly reluctant, one part true inexplicable magic. y’heard me, i said MAGIC. because being seen in all that humanity that includes both the glory and the grime, through art in collaboration with another human being–that’s the only thing to call it.

and then, when i print these photos and walk by them seventeen thousand times, i am reminded of those best parts right alongside our humanity. the pure joy, gorgeous light, and the stain from where my two year old threw up right before the shoot started (TRUE STORY.)

i am lifted up, encouraged, and able to tap deeper into the woman and the family on those walls–the woman i ultimately want to be, the bonds i want to weave even tighter and more beautiful. on tantrum fifteen before 11 am, I am carried by the reminder of my highest self, the one who chooses love and patience whether or not anyone is watching. in my soaring moments, i feel aligned with that most beautiful woman I see in the way my photographer painted me.

the work of family is so silent. it happens inside these four walls minute after minute and day after week with no one to see ALL of it except me and the little hearts in my charge. So to have someone witness it, through art we made together that is not just a representation of our faces but a symbol of everything that runs so, so much deeper–well, that’s an endless gift that’s better than Christmas morning in my book. And I only want to be in a business that gives gifts that keep on giving. Deeper than bows, more sacred than Santa, and the best heirloom we create together about who you really, truly are.

p.s. this photo is of us last year by my dear friend Alex Smith. I’ve lost 40 pounds since this photo was taken and I have just as much love for it, just as much gratitude to me and to her for making this photo happen. get in the frame, no matter what.

the be seen challenge

August 31, 2015 •

I have a question for you.
In what ways are you hiding in your business?
How do you make it harder for people to see you, like you, fall in love with your work, and hire you?

So many creatives make the mistake of just sharing their work on their blog/social media–and, ready for this truth bomb? no one cares that much. Sure, people might like and comment, but after the shelf life of your post is up, they forget all about it–and we all know what it feels like trying to feed the social media monster. The internet forgets–unless you give it something to remember you by.

The Be Seen Challenge is a 6 week challenge to get your people to fall in love with you through blogging and social media prompts + stop hiding in your business.

It’s free, and I’ll be sending weekly ideas + fill-in-the-blanks right to you. Being a solopreneur can be so lonely, so a huge part of this challenge is going to be the community we create together. Of course we’ll be chatting it up about each week’s challenge in the facebook group over the next 6 weeks, and I can’t wait to follow along with your results through the hashtag #beseenchallenge on instagram (and any other platform you like.)

At the end of the 6 weeks, I’ll be sharing my favorite breakthroughs of yours plus you’ll be able to download the PDF of all 6 weeks worth of prompts.

So many photographers have found a TON of value in connecting with other creatives and cheering each other on in the facebook group, so I’m itching to see how you all support each other through this process.

Warning: this might be scary. It’s probably going to be uncomfortable. parental locks But if you’re doing incredible work in the world that you’re deeply passionate about, you probably want to hide about it (ironically)–and I’m here to help you push through. Plus, it’s in baby-step format with lots of hand holding, because I know firsthand how freaking LOUD those fear gremlins can be.

First challenge hits your inbox on Tuesday–that’s tomorrow!–can’t wait to see you on the other side!

unstuck: a heartful photography community

July 20, 2015 •

hi friends!

SO stoked to tell you what I’ve been working on.

It’s a facebook group.

Don’t worry, not the annoying kind. There will be no passive-aggressive updates about drivers, or photos of my every meal, or anything else that made me loathe the fb starting in like, 2012. Nope, it’s a cozy corner of the internet for heartful photographers committed to making fabulous photos and making a living while doing it in a non-slimy, authentic way. We’re there to support each other, help each other out of ruts, rock our next big thing, and save ourselves from burnout. It’s photographers of all levels, so I’d love to have you.

Come on in, it’s free!

You’ll get a link to join automatically when you enter your email below. (Plus: you’ll get loads of juicy free content I’ve created just for photographers via email.)

omg guys, FILM. and i’m officially one of those people.

July 3, 2014 •

Alright. First, a little disclaimer: if you could care less about geeky photographer stuff, you can scroll to the pretty pics and be on your merry way. If you are in the photo industry, though, you’ve probably been subjected to the recent buzz about film. how it’s not dead, how we should all be shooting it, how basically if you’re not shooting it your images have no soul. it’s getting kiiind of intense. especially considering there are no artists that are like, watercolors. you have to be using watercolor and if you use oil you’re not worth your salt. but: like a really, reallllly good movie that you wish your people dose maximale would just hush about because you haven’t seen it: once you experience it you realize, dannng. it really is all it’s cracked up to be. now, now. this is not an announcement. there are a lot of things still hard to swallow about film. (cost! ridiculous cost! how friggin’ slow it is! how unpredictable it is! how poorly it functions in certain light! how heavy and bulky and clunky clunk clunky those cameras are! c-o-s-t!) but oh man, i’ve officially turned into one of those disciples. because why? mostly the same reasons other people love it so hard: the bokeh and sharpness. the color, the skintones. the lack of post-production time. the beauty of slowing down enough to figure out what in the world it is that you truly want to make. there’s another reason, for me, too. i am absolutely smitten with the lack of control. giving up the ability to slider my way into any look i want. that’s why it feels more artful to me, because the moment of creation comes when you click the shutter and that’s it–which feels more decisive than trying out seventeen different actions on a given photo and deciding which one looks best. so yes, i am an official convert lover of otc film. but i don’t think digital-only die hards are any less photographers for that fact alone. you can know your crap no matter what medium you use, and you can make great art through any means. i won’t be bombarding you with film propaganda about how you should shoot it and you must shoot daily or as needed it and if you don’t your world will crumble and you’re not authentic, but real love can’t be denied i tell you.

some snippets from recent work. the summer has been good to me, friends. i can’t wait to show you more. and hey, if you wanna talk geeky stuff, send me a note here. I’d be delighted.

Things I’m Bad At.

June 16, 2014 •

Every once in a while it feels to stuffy up in herre, and I need to level with you and take you behind the scenes. So today, you get to know some things I’m really, really bad at.

Sounds fun.

1. Recreating other people’s really pretty photos.

I already wrote about (well, pleaded about) killing Pinterest-worthy pics and capturing authenticity instead. But I have more to say. (Surprise?)

There’s a growing feeling on the earth that any photographer worth her salt can recreate any wonderful photo you pin on your cute board on pinterest.

A couple of things: sometimes, yes, we can recreate it. But lots of times, there are a million moving parts behind that photo that we can’t recreate: the exact way the light is hitting her face, the love between the couple, the dress and the couple’s height difference and the way the wind is blowing. (Some photographer wrote a fabulous article about this and I can’t for the life of me find it now–any help?)

But the real question is: even if we could recreate it, WHY? Why would you want us to? Why would we want to? Each wedding day I have been part of has overflowed with so MUCH. There has been a unique vibe to each wedding, and each time I have been amazed–that is the honest truth.

I want to make you a few promises. One. Your love is unique. Really it is. And so, your wedding will be unique, if you let it. Two. Your day will be full. We won’t need to recreate someone else’s amazing photo, because there will already be enough. You are enough.

Alright. That was probably too philosophical, but what else would you expect from yours truly.

2. Being quiet.

The other day I was doing a bridal session with a wonderful couple, and another photographer happened to be right next to us. I suddenly realized that I was quite literally guffawing with my couple over who knows what–and she was patiently waiting for me to stop so she could direct her couple. Whooooops. The moral is: clients, be prepared to guffaw. Just kidding, but really–we’re gonna have a good time.

I’m also bad at keeping my thoughts about certain things (pinterest! photography! love and weddings! lots and lots of other things!) to myself. So be warned.

3. Selling stuff I don’t think is a million percent awesome.

There are about a zillion album companies for photographers out there. But I am head over heels in love with the albums I offer to clients. They are not cheap; they are heirlooms. They are made of the finest materials and feature the finest printing and to me, that can’t be beat by a smaller price tag.

And now, a mysterious sentence where I whet your appetite for something else coming soon to the Brooke Schultz Photography product offerings! Ohh, you are gonna love these. They are gorgeous, of the highest quality, and–you guessed it–a million percent awesome.

That concludes today’s episode of Things I’m Bad At. If you’d like to read more musings for photographers and creative folks, you can sign up for snappy, never-spammy emails right here:

the manifesto.

February 26, 2014 •

I want to be the kind of photographer who says something.

Anyone can learn to take a decent picture. Anyone can learn shutter speed, lenses, and push a button.

I want to make photographs.

Artful photographs that tell a story; the whole story.

More love soaked and dreamy than you ever imagined; more authentic, raw, and honest too.

I want to give the couples who entrust me with their wedding day a gift greater than simply “documenting” their day. I want to give a three hundred and sixty degree view that includes everything. That doesn’t mean thousands of images. It means the whole truth–something so much bigger than the two of them, but then, something as small and simple as a whisper in her ear, a smear of lipstick on his cheek.

If you can sacrifice the need to control, the worry, and just trust, this is where we’re going together. Complete authenticity that makes for the most beautiful photographs because: reality is the most beautiful.

I’m still learning and refining. Still teaching my eyes and my heart to be open to it all, the bigness and the smallness of every thing, and that is what I have to offer. My open eyes and my open heart.

I don’t do boring, cookie-cutter, or anyone-could-have-taken-that. I do passionate, romantic, authentic, soulful.

I can’t do this in the best way at big traditional weddings with gargantuan guest lists and a checklist of every photo you want. I will take every photo on your list but I won’t make magic, and I don’t want anything less than magic for you on your wedding day.

So if you get a feeling in your gut, the same flavor of butterflies your love gives you, when you look at these photos, I would be absolutely honored to photograph your best day. If these photos stir something in you, they move you, and maybe you can’t even say why–then this dream is for you.

And then, like any incredible story, these images will be ones you can look at for the rest of your days and feel something.

The Best of 2013

January 6, 2014 •

It seems absolutely ludicrous that my life could just get exponentially better with every year that passes; but, that’s exactly what’s happened. Sometimes the cynic inside freaks out, certain it will all have to come crashing down around me at some point. That may be true, but the more I wade through experiences happy and sad boring and thrilling drudgerous and dangerous, the more sure I am of how resilient I have the power to be. Maybe that’s too cocky to put out into the universe and I’m surely asking for it now, but here goes. Do your worst, world.

2013 brought me the greatest joy I’ve ever known: baby Vienna girl. She is more beautiful and exquisite than any photo I could ever create, and I sit in awe on a daily basis at the fact that I created her. She is so sparkly, vivacious–I’ll never get enough. I thought about not saying that, because shouldn’t my greatest joy be my Jared? But it was so binding for us, and as wonderful as young love is, this kind is deeper and it grips your heart so sometimes you can’t even breathe with how amazing and huge it is.

But before Vienna girl, I was full of uncertainty, having to make a dozen plans without any idea how I’d feel. Oh, you’ll just want to stay home, person after person told me. That’s the problem with advice: people can only give it from the belly of their own experience, but even with that caveat it’s preached like gospel truth. I was swimming in fear, apprehension, and the biggest anticipation of my life.

Then she came and everything made sense. Of course I would still photograph. I was still me. She just added a zillion dimensions, a million laughs and face-splitting grins, and a smattering of moments where I wanted to rip out my hair.

There’s power in closure. It’s something I’ve ached for in so many relationships, so it feels good to be able to snap up a calendar year and breathe in the success, the failures, the crap and the glory. And I won’t lie, it feels good to curate some highlights and not acknowledge the junk for a minute.

These photographs. Many of my favoritest favorites from 2013 I can’t share yet, but here are some that spoke to me. Thank you times a hundred hundreds to you fabulous people who trusted me to tell the stories of your wedding days, your love, your families. You are all stunning and I’m just really grateful to you.

Hope you love.

2014 is already shaping up to be fabulous. I’d love to photograph you this year. Let’s make it happen.

Branch Out. But Creatively.

December 10, 2013 •

I’d never made a full on layer cake before, but I kept wanting to try.

So I made the entire thing from scratch, chocolate with chocolate cream cheese frosting and berries and I even made TWO.

It was a two day project, buying equipment and selecting very carefully the recipes I would try for the frosting and the cake, and how would I decorate it? My kitchen was soaked in butter and cocoa and dusted with a snowfall of powdered sugar. (Sounds kind of divine when I put it that way…in other words, it was a mess.)

Coming out with the finished product, though, I felt insanely proud.

What I didn’t expect: I felt creatively refreshed, recharged, ready to tackle again the problems in my craft and my business.

Try something new is not revolutionary advice.

But add creativity to that and splash bang shazam. It’s a fabulous way to move outside your comfort zone and refresh your perspective on your particular creative line of work.

It was exhilarating to try to sprinkle juuust the right amount of powdered sugar atop my cakes, and even figuring out how to transport and store (cream cheese frosting can’t just be left out on the counter apparently, whooops) and cut my cake creation was pure fun.

When you push yourself to create something outside your usual, your eyes are opened to the nuances of someone else’s craft–and you know what’s comin next is a sentence about applyin’ those discoveries to your own art.

It doesn’t have to be a science, the application part. I’m not going to pretend like I made a chart of comparison–oh, sifting the powdered sugar on top was like editing in Photoshop–noo no no. Just the exercise of trying something new but still creative is in itself enough to expand you as an artist.

Some people might advise you to start small, and don’t try to do everything from scratch and from recipes you’ve never known anyone who’s tried and for a huge crowd your first time, for Pete’s sake.

But I am kind of all about rule breaking. Intentional or not.

So if it feels most comfortable (but exciting!) to start small, and you’re mostly scared spitless, go that path. But if you want to go big, whatever that looks like, oh mah goodness, you have my blessing.

Whether you’re baking a few cakes or wanting to try professional video, if you’re heart is itching for it, let’s give ourselves permission to do. Even if you don’t know the first thing about frosting or focusing. Even if your new creative avenue goes absolutely nowhere. Just because you try something and it works out doesn’t bind you to any next step. And of course, if it’s a royal mess that doesn’t mean your dreams of adding video to your wedding photography offerings are dashed forever.

This idea of branching out creatively is to:

1. Refresh your love for your main squeeze

2. Give you new perspective and creativity in dealing with problems in your business

3. Give you permission to try new things that may or may not show up in your business down the road.

Has there been something creative floating around that you’re anxious to try? A new blog, basket weaving, baby hair bows custom gift wrapping flower arranging calligraphy a memoir of your childhood? I’d be tickled to hear about it, in the comments or an email at brookebschultz @ gmail.com

Keep living your wildly creative life, mlove!

And, just in case you’re interested, the recipe for my cake here, and the frosting here. (The frosting was like whoa. Best I’ve ever had probs. just bein real. The cake, a little too crumbly for my liking but still really good.)

Brooke Schultz is a Salt Lake City based Utah wedding photographer who is completely crazy for authentic love stories, beautiful food, and any ocean she can get her hands on. She’s the mom of a bright-eyed baby girl and the queen of hot fudge making.

You can find her work in Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty, Ruffled blog, and some other pretty exciting places she can’t quite tell you about yet. You can see the details about getting your lovely self in front of her camera here.

Is Your Mom Running Your Business?

September 3, 2013 •

This is my mom. (Yeah, my dad’s there, too–more about him lata.)

My mom is so many things–talented, beautiful, thoughtful, generous…just all around incredible.

She gives me reallly great advice about so many things, including my business. I call her and tell her absolutely everything.

But she doesn’t run my business.

Sometimes we forget one of the most joyously joyful things about running our own business: making the decisions.

And when we’re forgettin this magnificent thing, we turn it into something evil and burdensome and we just want someone else to do it for us.

So we call our moms or our significant others or our dogs and ask what we should do about this situation with this client. And do you think I should offer canvases? And what should I charge for this type of session? Is it okay to blog this photo?

Then, before we know it, we’re tangled up in other people’s opinions whose opinions actually have nothing to do with our business goals. Half the time, the advice we follow comes from people who aren’t even our target market. Silliness.

Don’t get me wrong: moms give some stinkin’ great advice. I’m not saying you’re not allowed to call your sweet mother and bawl about a client that didn’t come through or ask her what she thinks about how you’re doing things. But the bottom line has to remain that YOU ARE THE BOSS.

Your mom knows a lot about life. She might even know everything about photography AND even know everything about running a successful business. (Welll….let’s go with it.) But. but. but. She does not know everything about running your photography business. She doesn’t know exactly how exhilarating photographing a fabulous wedding is for you, and she can’t know exactly how excruciating the thought is of offering canvases to your clients even though you’d probably make a jillion dollars because you hate them. She can’t decide how many clients you should take on this year because she doesn’t know how much time you need to spend with your babies for the sheer sake of your sanity.

She might have a pretty good idea about these things, so yes. Talk to her and ask her what she thinks, but forthelove:

Run your own business, deliberately and joyfully!

Or don’t. Nobody is forcing you to have this business. If it’s not working for you, get out. (Imagine that said with love. It was definitely typed with love.)

I was a little bit whining to my people the other night because as an entrepreneur my work is never done, and my to-do list is always a mile long, and I’ve thought so much about these seventy five changes that just aren’t finished yet, and bleeblahblee.

And THEN I re-remembered how freaking awesome it is that I get to decide those seventy five changes and when they get done. I get to decide when I work and who I want to photograph and how it’s gonna look and EVERY THING. It’s one of the reasons photography and entrepreneurship are such a good fit for me.

So what if you know photography is your soulmate but you hate making decisions?

First, you gotta know which decisions you hate. Is it all of em? Cause if yes, well, maybe you and photography are soulmates, but you and business might not be. You have a gut feeling about this already, I’m thinking.

But if you only hate deciding one thing, could you outsource it to someone who might be better at it than you? (album design? logo? which photo of me is the best for my ‘about’ page? packaging? Yehaw.)

If yes, cha-ching. You done. Stop reading and go hire someone to make that decision for you!

But if no, let’s keep exploring.

Do you hate that decision 100% of the time, or only on Saturdays? Only in the morning? Find your peak time to tackle icky decisions and check it off your list, babe. Better yet, be accountable to someone for what you’re gonna decide in the next 24 hours. (Start with your mom! Yess!)

If you need someone to be accountable to, I’m here for you man. Tell me in the comments or via email at brookebschultz @ gmail.com what decision you’ve been hemming and hawing over that you’re going to make in the next 24 hours!

WOOP for running your own biz with bliss!

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