463
Jenn & Dave hail from the great country of Canada and came from Toronto to spend a day learning from us! I am still always humbled & excited when we have mentor sessions with people that cross country lines to come into our wonderful little city of Seattle for a mentor session. Working with husband and wife teams is always especially rewarding for us since it is our "forte" of sorts. Jenn & Dave are just a down to earth, incredible couple. Both are driven, passionate & motivated and as a team I believe they are an unstoppable force. Dave & Chris are very similar in their strengths and the valuable things that they bring to the creative team & business; and Jenn & I found a lot in common with one another in our respective roles in our business'. The day we spent with these two gems really felt like hanging out with a couple friends had known for forever.
Dave & Jenn are incredibly talented, smart & business savvy. Their travel photography work is really something especially inspiring. It is always easy to see what really makes a photographer come alive. You can take one look at the imagery and see where it stems from. The best work comes from the heart & soul. That's the beautiful place these two create from, in all of the photographers we have worked with over the years those who create work from the heart are the ones that continue to blow me away with what pours out of them.
A few days after their mentor session with us Jenn & Dave wrote us a note that I printed out to keep up in our office because it meant so much to us. It embodies the very reason why we do mentor sessions for photographers, so I thought I would share it with you:
"Dear Sarah & Chris!
I don't think I can even put into words what it meant for us to meet you and be mentored by you this week. You are both such loving, kind, encouraging, smart and passionate people, and right from the minute you walked in the doors of the ACE we felt at ease and like we were meeting up with two friends. That's what it felt like the entire time we were with you, sitting with two friends who genuinely cared about helping us and challenging us to make our business and really, our lives, better. I really don't think I can explain how much this whole experience has meant to us.
We got on the bus and immediately started typing out on our laptop everything we could remember from our time with you -- what we learned, what we were inspired by. We typed until our battery ran out. Then we spent our whole plane ride talking -- it was seriously a business meeting on an airplane! -- with our notebooks out, talking through what we were challenged by, and what our next steps were. We both said that sitting there with you in your home, we felt like we were on the same wavelength, like you were there in our lives to help pull us over the next wave and into the next awesome stage of our business, and to help us see what our business could be. We talked a lot about creating a business that will help us live the life we want, right now, not waiting for the business to grow and for us to somehow follow, but the other way around. We left feeling so inspired and so affirmed in what we are doing. The ideas that we had in our mind but were too afraid to do, you said "yes, do it, we did it and it did awesome things for us". You gave us the courage to not just be any other local area wedding photographer who just merely gets by and runs a nice business. You've encouraged me to have the balls to dream bigger than that, and believe that I can do it.
Your words about our work meant so much to me, especially about my travel work. I've thought a lot about that since getting back home. We've already begun the process of narrowing down our portfolio, and the next major hurdle we want to tackle is more effectively communicating our "why" behind our business. I love what you said about clients appreciating the "why". I want clients to come to us because they believe in the why behind what we do. I'm trying to come up with practical ways in which we can do that better. I'm also taking very strongly to heart what you both said about putting on blinders to what the "market" dictates or "says" a wedding photographer should be.
I'm sorry this email is so long, there is just so much I want to say about what ideas you have sparked within us. Thank you so much, for everything. You have helped us in ways we could never have imagined. We couldn't be more inspired than we are right now!
I am so very happy we had the opportunity to meet you both, and hope we're able to keep in touch!
Big hugs!
Jenn (& Dave)"
Thoughts
Add a Comment
View Comments (12)
439
Meet Spencer, he came out from the great land of Minnesota to share the day with us here in Seattle for a mentor session. Little did we know that we would leave that day with him with a new, totally amazing friend. Spencer had emailed me about a year and a half ago and I went over to check out his blog and was totally impressed with the unique vision and voice that I could see woven throughout his work even then. Now even more so than back then, there is no doubt in my mind that Spencer is going big places. He is an artist who has really woven his voice and style into his work and continues to refine that voice, shoot by shoot. He works hard. He looks inward before he looks outward to see what others are doing and I believe this has been a very important part to his success. Basically, if there is anyone to watch for in this industry I would dare to say it is Spencer Combs. I'm a fan.
Chris and I feel honored to be just a small part of his giant journey towards fulfilling his full potential as an artist and business person. Our time with him was truly inspiring. This is a person that asks all the right questions and puts them into action. Spencer's questions for us were not about the gear we used or what aperture we were shooting at, but rather Spencer asked questions like, "what was your tipping point?" "what inspires you?" "how do I connect with my clients on a deeper level?" Those kind of questions are the questions you ask when you have the brain and ear of a fellow artist in front of you. Spencer is a photographer who truly GETS IT on so many levels. Put this guy on your radar... and just watch and remember what I said about him.
Spencers Blog
Spencers Website
Thoughts
Add a Comment
View Comments (13)
Latasha says:
Saturday, April 30, 2011, 01:09 PM
Wow! His website is a lot of fun! Thanks for introducing him-
Dan Oksnevad says:
Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 01:09 PM
Spencer is a rock star. Looks like y'all had fun.
yana says:
Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 09:21 AM
Oh, dear, these are fabulous! Thanks for introducing me to his work--amazing.
Andrew Cahill says:
Monday, April 25, 2011, 03:21 PM
Wonderful photos, Spencer seems like a really fun guy in your capture. Makes me wanna know him more. Thank you.
Gina Meola says:
Monday, April 25, 2011, 11:29 AM
Spencer is WONDERFUL and you did a phenomenal job capturing him!! So glad he had the opportunity to learn from you guys :)
Maggie Fortson says:
Monday, April 25, 2011, 10:51 AM
Such a neat shoot! He seemed to have a lot of fun!
Nessa K says:
Monday, April 25, 2011, 10:42 AM
I just wanted to say that I love these... and thank you for introducing me to his work! So good.
eliesa says:
Monday, April 25, 2011, 10:32 AM
YEAH!!!!! I absolutely LOVE Spencie and I am SO glad you two were able to connect! Gooooooood shit! LOVEe
419
Kara & Jeremy hail from the great state of Oklahoma! It was fun to spend the day with some people from our old stomping grounds! These two are such an incredible duo! Kara is some kind of super human and somehow manages to do it all. Literally, anything this girl puts her mind to she accomplishes. She has drive, motivation and she is one of those rare people that you just know will surprise everyone with the many beautiful things she achieves in this life. Jeremy is her great companion, he is Kara's goose. He grounds her, keeps her on the right path and pushes her towards being all that she can be. Jeremy is also a very talented filmmaker, These two fill in each others gaps so well and will be a force to be reckoned with one day.
I have no doubt these two will take their photography/filmmaking wherever they want it to go. They are first and foremost parents who love their kids with all their hearts. Kara is a business woman and the two of them came to us to get some direction on how to get the kind of photos they see in their minds to translate to paper :). What we love about our mentor sessions is working with people on focused objectives catered to what their goals are for their craft. We had so much fun with these two and here are just a few frames from their short mini session with us!
Thoughts
Add a Comment
View Comments (5)
Kara says:
Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 01:44 PM
Sarah! Our time with you & Chris will be a game changer! Loved every little moment! Much love & appreciation from us! Small world...what up Miss Abigail?:)
Jacqueline says:
Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 08:22 PM
Such a lovely set of photos. I especially love the 3rd shot.
Abigail Smith says:
Tuesday, March 1, 2011, 11:49 AM
Aw, they are such a great couple and have THEE cutest children! Love them! You did such a grand job of capturing the two of them. :)
415
Last week we had an amazing day with this little adorable duo. They flew in from Michigan to spend the day with us for a full day mentor session. We had an absolute blast with these two. They are the "dreamers" of the world. They love life and see the world a little differently than everyone else. As we told them both, "us dreamers have to stick together."
These two met back in High school and are now married with a beautiful family. It's so obvious to see the love that radiates from these two. These frames were shot in a 5 minute time span in a parking lot before we went inside to eat. Love comes easy to them... so does laughter and joy... it's pretty easy to fall in love with these two.
This week has been pretty crazy for us prepping for Vegas and the list goes on... so I apologize for the terse little blog posts! I will have an update coming your way here in the blog in the next couple of days about where you can go to see us speak during our time. We'll be speaking at the Renaissance booth and ProDPI booth and I'll be posting that schedule tomorrow or Thursday for you guys. Looking forward to seeing everyone at WPPI this year!
Thoughts
Add a Comment
View Comments (5)
Carter Moore says:
Wednesday, February 16, 2011, 11:14 AM
Wow, Sarah and Chris, your work is turning out so amazing. I cannot wait to see the rest of these. Fantastic tones, I still do not know how you do it so well.
Jeffrey San Juan says:
Tuesday, February 15, 2011, 01:49 PM
Love all your photos. I read your blogs everytime you have a new entry. I look forward to seeing you guys in Vegas. Possibly a picture with my inspiration?
so inspiring reading this post! i can completely relate to the email! you guys are amazing for always helping and inspiring others!
Oh wow..these are so wonderful. What a gorgeous couple... Jenn & Dave, you two are a force to be reckoned with!!
Is VOICE or Y with a VOICE ever going to make an appearance in Seattle?!
yes!! love these photos, love these words, and love the starks :) cheers to all 4 of you, what a day it must have been.
Love love love them all! I also LOVE to read comments like these! Can't wait to meet you Sarah! It's going to be awesome! :)
And PS - You made me cry with what you wrote ;) So thankful to have connected with you guys. xo
Sarah & Chris, we can't thank you enough! Can't believe it's our faces we're looking at on your blog tonight!! We LOVE what you captured for us and the mark you've left on us as photographers, businesspeople, and just plain people. Absolutely loved our time with you both!! xoxoxo
The third last is such a strong yet sweet image. Love it :)
omg. i love these so much that it's absolutely ridiculous. jenn and dave, you are the cutest and such beautiful souls. sarah and chris, i can say the same about you two as well. lots of love, anda.
You captured them beautifully. These are just perfect and so very true to who these two are. Beautiful, kind and passionate. Great captures!!
love your work and the emotion, passion and joy you capture
I just love your work and how you really capture the joy and love in every frame you shoot! It's such a wonder how you share the emotion of the moment through a photo frame.