What if I told you there’s a simple solution to the pesky, persistent problem of never having enough fresh, compelling visual content for your brand’s social media presence?

I’ll be honest, everyone and their mom on the internet today promise a solution to help you grow your audience online, but only a few

• Do it for free
• Share with nothing held back
• And actually share a solution that works, not just makes you feel good

I am one of those few and would love to share my best secrets and tips with you.

But not today!

Because I need you to be mentally and emotionally ready for the sheer awesomeness coming your way.

Be on the lookout for an email from me tomorrow where I finally share the details on how to sign up. (Read: Watch this page like a hawk.)

Xoxo

Breonny

It was a dark and stormy night. Well… actually, it was a bright and sunny afternoon, but it was the biggest storm of my career.

It was 2009. The market had thoroughly crashed, and with it my booming wedding photography business. The wedding industry was flooded with talented photographers and people suddenly stopped getting married. Literally. Average couples pushed their weddings off for two or three years to pinch and save for their fairytale day. They postponed dates and scaled back dreams. My bookings dried up practically overnight.

Then, one particularly salty bride crushed the last little bit of love for weddings I had left.

We didn’t even get to the wedding. She hated her engagement session. A few days after I sent her the gallery of images, she sent me a long email full of complaints about all the things she hated. In particular, she claimed she requested up front that we avoid shots of her profile and shots of the two of them kissing. To all of my recollection, she most definitely had NOT communicated a single word of this to me.

I couldn’t figure out how this happened. I’d been doing this long enough I thought I’d worked out all these kinds of kinks. Sadly, I had not.

I was devastated. (Of course.)

The photographs were beautiful! This was my work, my art, my livelihood. I poured blood, sweat, and tears into honing my craft to become a highly skilled and versatile photographer. Plus, my portfolio was full of couples kissing. If she didn’t like my work, why had she hired me?

In a moment of clarity, I realized: She didn’t hate my work; she hated her nose.

It was right there in black and white in the middle of the paragraph, “I hate my nose.”

All of her dissatisfaction hinged on this single detail.

I didn’t figure I could do much about that. I could try to reshoot the engagement session around her nose, but I didn’t think that was the kind of photographer I wanted to be, nor the type of photographer she deserved to have.

I didn’t know how to serve her further, so did what was best for us both at the time—dissolved the contract, wished her the best, and went our separate ways.

But my wedding business was in shambles. That was literally the only event I had on the books.

I was terrified. I sobbed for hours. Nasty, ugly, into-the-pillow sobs. I’d chosen photography because it was a more “sustainable” career than writing or acting. I thought I’d cracked the code!

NOPE.

I was just enjoying an artificial bubble along with the rest of my industry. In only a few short months, I found myself broke, embarrassed, defeated, and utterly directionless.

I would have wallowed in my grief and misery for days, but I didn’t have that luxury. I was halfway through a divorce and didn’t know how I was going to feed my kids. We were already tucked away in spare corners of my aunt’s house for a few months because I had been unable to keep up the rent on one dwindling income.

So, I did what every mama bear in that situation does: I splashed cold water on my face and had a stroke of genius.

In an instant, I made the decision to abandon the wedding business I had worked so hard to nurture and grow over the past eight years and pivot to a completely new market. I never really wanted to shoot weddings full time anyway. I’d been trying to put myself in the box of what I thought a “profitable” photographer looked like.

Deleting the last wedding off my books was a gift. That poor bride and her nose had freed me from my proverbial prison.

A new idea was hatched.

During the years I’d built a wedding business, I’d also built quality relationships with high-end vendors. I’d done a handful of custom branded shoots for a few industry leaders in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Even though the vendors who cater high-end events regularly have their work photographed by quality photographers, they rarely even see the photographs, never mind receive copies with rights to use them. I worked with established vendors who produced some of the most luxurious events across the metroprolex, but had virtually zero professional images in their portfolios to show for it. Even though they’d worked hundreds—sometimes thousands—of professional events, the photographers working the same events were hoarding their beautiful images just out of reach. They weren’t necessarily meaning to, they just didn’t realize this untapped market was sitting right under their noses.

In that void, I developed a knack for working directly with chefs, florists, planners, venues, and all the moving people parts it takes to produce beautiful events.

It was just the spark of an idea, but it was DIRECTION!

As soon as I decided, I went back to my computer to find a Facebook message waiting for me from a past client needing updated shots. Well. Duh. Of course that’s how the Universe works.

In the course of a single afternoon, I pivoted my entire photography practice to focus on what I love more than anything: Helping other entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

Surprised? I am, too. I am surprised and grateful for the fork in the road.

I’ve also been incredibly grateful to the woman who hated my work because she hated her nose. I’ve thought of her many, many times, silently wished her well, and genuinely hoped she’d finally found peace with her own image in the mirror. (Y’all, it was a beautiful nose. It was long and exotic, perfectly symmetrical — the kind of slope that drove pharaohs crazy.)

Thank you for reading this long and rambling story about how I started in brand photography.

Leave a comment and tell me about your big moment of truth?

Xoxo,
Breonny

P.S. This is a favorite of me just a few months before that fateful day:

Good morning, beautiful friends. And yes, you read that right! I am writing from the breathtaking beaches of Kaua’i.

Why am I taking time out this perfect morning to write? Well, because I promised I would.

And because I have important things to say.

…but this is just your friendly reminder to set you calendar for May 30th at 5:55 p.m. CST.

I know my sneaky, little hints still haven’t revealed what I’m up to. All in due time, my precious. (But all I’ve got in my pocketses are a few pretty pieces of coral and some runaway grains of sand.)

All I can say for now is this: If you run a business, or maintain an online presence to book creative gigs, UNstock Photography is made just for you. And the reason it’s critical to get on this now is because the times they are a changing. Keep up or get left behind.

Unrelated, here are a few pretty pictures from the island for your enjoyment:

Can’t wait to see you on the 30th!

Mahalo. ;-*

Yes, yes it is.

You and I both know stock photography erodes trust between you and your audience. Your audience needs to see the YOU behind your brand because people don’t buy buy WHAT you’re selling; they buy WHY you’re selling it.

Your unique story resonates gloriously with your audience. Even if you don’t think you have one, you really, truly do.

But stock photography is never going to tell it for you. Nope, nope it won’t. Not now. Not ever. NEVER.

Why?

Because it isn’t you.

(DUH.)

So what do you do instead?

Stay tuned for Hints #4 & #5 to find out!

(Sorry. I can’t help myself!)

And don’t forget to set your calendar for May 30th at 5:55 p.m. to learn everything. ;)

(As promised, here I am 5 days later with another hint.)

You are in a relationship with your audience.

Your people make split-second judgements on everything you say or do or post. Everything your audience sees or hears you say or do factors into their image of your brand.

In other words, you are your personal brand.

The single most critical cornerstone of this relationship is trust. Build trust authentically, and you grow an excited, loyal audience—organically and with ease.

My people care deeply about their personal brand identity and I can spot them halfway across the globe.

This is for you if you are passionate about your personal image and how your brand is portrayed online and in print.

This is for you if you’re sick and tired of banging your head against your cell phone to craft a few, measly pictures to post on Insta.

This is for you if you loathe the idea of stock photography and would never dream of using it.

This is for you if you have tried stock photography and are fed up wasting hours hunting for the “perfect” picture.

That’s all for now.

The next hint is in five days.

Find me on instagram.com/UNstockphotography

Xoxo