Now that i’m in North Carolina, I feel as though it’s a fresh start in a lot of ways. I’ve been thinking long and hard about where my business is going. The 2012 season had so many amazing moments, but it also left me extremely exhausted. Most people would define success by their finances for the year (MLP had it’s best year yet), but I find that I hold my business to different standards. At the beginning of this year I started questioning why I was shooting the way I shot, who I shot, ect…The more that I dwelled and prayed on the matter, the more I realized that a lot of the sessions  I was shooting were because I couldn’t say “no” to people. Don’t get me wrong, I love making my clients look and feel amazing and I always will! It’s on of my top priorities, but through this soul searching, I’ve found that there are certain types of photo sessions that bring me more joy than others.

2012 turned out to be the year of the baby! My baby/family portrait business went from being a very small fraction to almost half of my business!!! It was mind boggling! People were banging down my proverbial door (i.e. my email inbox) to have me do their baby & family portraits. To those of you who did, thank you! It was A LOT of fun! Yet, I didn’t find myself excited to do those sessions like I am when I get ready to shoot a wedding. But it was the logical progression. The babies & families I captured were almost always a product of one of the weddings I had shot a few years prior! So not only did I get to spend time with my lovely couples again, but I got to see the physical product of their love! On that end of things the sessions were extremely satisfying!  On the artistic end though, I found myself repeating shot after shot and even when I managed to change things up a bit it still wasn’t to the extent that satiated that artistic beast within!

Midway through the autumn season (my busiest time of year), I had a request to do a senior session for Natalie. I hadn’t done a senior session in a couple of years and I literally squeezed her into my schedule 1 week before I left for my St. Thomas wedding. I can’t tell you how refreshing it was for me to shoot with Natalie! Not only was she absolutely gorgeous but her willingness to experiment with poses was so helpful. Plus her parents doubled as photo assistants, holding reflectors and encouraging every shot! I left that session more excited to edit than I had in a long time! But the craziness of that season soon took over again and I forgot how much I enjoyed that day.

Fast forward to January, I’m sitting in Mystic, CT at Mystic Seminars (A wedding photog conference that I go to every year) listening to Sue Bryce. Her talk was informative, hilarious, and engaging, but at that moment it hadn’t really sunk in. As the event went on I got more and more frustrated.  It was literally the most frustrating conference I have yet to attend. Not because they did anything wrong, on the contrary it’s because they did everything right! Every speaker touched my soul in some way. I left with a terrible head cold and feeling like I should quit right then and there, but what else would I do? In the weeks to follow, I prepared for my journey to North Carolina. During that time I kept going back to Sue Bryce and her talk. Something started to grow inside of me. Not only a new idea, but a new heart connection, something that I’ve been passionate about from day 1 but I’ve never really been able to implement into my business. A portrait business that focuses solely on women!

There will be more in depth look at the new business in another blog, but this will also be bringing a side of my business to a close. Though I adore the families that I’ve been able to shoot thus far (and some I will be shooting in the near future), I will no longer be advertising families & babies in my business. Now with that said, if someone asks me and I have time for it, sure I have no problem shooting your family (hahaha, sorry it just sounds funny to me!), but I wont be placing that shoot on my website. The availability will also be very limited as I want to pour the best of me into this new avenue that I feel so strongly about! If we have discussed family/baby portraits but you have yet to book, that’s ok, I will still be honoring those sessions. The same goes for my Baby’s First Year clients. Soon though, you will see less and less of those types of sessions on my website.

I hope that you understand why I am changing things the way I am. I want to be fulfilled by my work as well as make my clients happy. Maybe I’m trying to have my cake and eat it too, but when you are your own boss….you can kinda do that right? 😉
I am SO excited for this new journey both here in NC and in my business, I hope you are too! There is more to come soon, but for now here is a teaser of what to expect from Simply Beautiful Couture by Mabyn Ludke!

xoxoxo,
Mabyn

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