The Beginner Photography Podcast

5 Mistakes All New Photographers Make and How to Avoid Them with Sabrina Gebherdt

• Raymond Hatfield

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#467 In today's episode of the podcast, I chat with Family, Newborn, and Maternity photographer Sabrina Gebhardt, about the importance of personal growth in photography amidst the trials of starting and maintaining a business.

THE BIG IDEAS

  • Embrace Your Own Journey: Avoid comparing your progress with others; focus on your unique path and growth.
  • Invest in Learning: Prioritize education to build a strong foundation and gradually enhance your skills.
  • Balance is Key: Find harmony between your passion for photography and life commitments to prevent burnout.
  • Practice with Purpose: Set attainable goals and projects that challenge your creativity and technique.

PHOTOGRAPHY ACTION PLAN

  • Set Achievable Photography Goals: Decide on a simple, attainable goal you can achieve this week, such as mastering one new camera setting or taking a photo that captures an emotion. Write down this goal and the steps you need to accomplish it; keep it visible for daily motivation.
  • Engage in Daily Practice: Choose a subject or theme each day and capture it using different angles and perspectives. Remember, experience is your greatest teacher. The more you shoot, the faster you’ll bridge the creative gap.
  •  Limit Social Media Influence: Allocate specific times for viewing social media to avoid constant comparison that might hinder your creativity. Use this saved time to focus more on your personal development in photography.
  • Invest in Your Education: Pick a tutorial or course on an aspect of photography you’re unfamiliar with, such as lighting or composition. Consistently applying new knowledge will not only build your skills but also boost your confidence behind the lens.
  •  Initiate a Personal Project: Start a 365-day photo project, giving yourself permission to bend the rules, such as taking multiple photos in one day or not adhering to consecutive daily posts. This project is meant to fuel your growth and enjoyment in photography, not add pressure, so keep it fun and flexible.

Resources:

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Connect with Raymond!


Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Social media has totally wrecked us and it is really hard to put yourself in a position where I am this brand new photographer. I'm really trying to fine tune my craft, but naturally I'm following all of these incredible photographers and it is almost impossible. To stay in your own lane and not get frustrated that you are on a different path or at a different point in your path than they are. We just see them. And we think that that is immediately attainable without remembering that it has taken them years and years and years to get to where they are. But if it's making you feel frustrated, because how can they be there? And I'm all the way over here. Yeah. It's not a healthy spot to be in.

Raymond Hatfield:

Hey, welcome to the beginner photography podcast. I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield. And each week I interview one of the world's most interesting photographers to learn what it really takes to capture beautiful images so that you can start to do the same. In today's rewind episode, we are chatting with a lifestyle family and newborn photographer, Sabrina Gebhardt about kind of the most common mistakes that beginners make that lead directly to burnout and how to avoid them. But first. The Beginner Photography Podcast is brought to you by CloudSpot. Everything you need to build a thriving photography business, impress your clients, deliver professional experience, and streamline your workflow all in one platform. You can grab your free forever account over at DeliverPhotos. com and only upgrade when you and your business are ready. So in today's episode, you are going to learn how to stay true to yourself and avoid comparing yourself to others on social media so that you can focus on your own journey, how to find balance with life and photography to prevent that burnout and maintain a healthy balance between your passion of photography and the constraints of everyday life. And lastly, the importance of personal projects for practice. Wow, personal projects for practice. Yeah, and how this can help overcome that learning curve, and redefine the rules to keep photography fun and manageable. A ton in this episode. So with that, let's go ahead and get on into this interview with Sabrina Gebhardt. Sabrina, I know that you came from the corporate world before you got into photography. So, tell me, when did you know that photography was going to play an important role in your life?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah, I am one of those people that in high school, I had a camera with me all the time. So, I have thousands and thousands of photos of like, us at parties, us at drill team, us at football games, us in math class. I mean, just life. Like I loved having a camera on hand and both of my parents were really into the amateur thing. Like we had a dark room we would set up in our garage and my dad loved to do landscapes and my mom loved what we now call lifestyle photography. Just casually capturing my brother and I with family and engaging with friends. So there was always a camera around it. Me and I grew up with that. when I went to college, I really thought when I started out, like back in the day, you could be general studies as a freshman. That's like not a thing anymore. But back then you could be general studies because they wanted you to test the waters. And I really thought I may take a photography class. And then I didn't. And I actually put the camera down for my entire college experience. Like, No camera never was. I just kind of changed my identity because I was trying new things. and then I, right out of college, I got a corporate job, which I absolutely loved and there was no photography inside of it whatsoever. and then just like everybody else, I became a mom. And as soon as my daughter was born, the camera came back out. By then, the world had gone digital, and so while I was shooting with a film camera, it wasn't, this, it wasn't shiny and new like a digital, and so very quickly I asked for a digital camera, and I wanted to learn the mechanics of that, but it was different. Right. It was a learning curve to that. And I just, I loved photographing her and it just reignited that spark that I'd had. Right. And the funny thing is I was a Girl Scout when I was a kid and we were moving a few years ago and I was going through just like, boxes of stuff. And I have this little Girl Scout album from when I was like eight years old. And there's all these things. What's your favorite color? What's your favorite food? All these things. And what do you want to be when you grow up? And it says photographer there. I was literally mind blown that my eight year old self had manifested this life.

Raymond Hatfield:

That is so funny. What do you think it is like at eight years old as somebody who had, well, my son is nine now. And when I look at him, you know, and I think that we have this idea to ask kids, like, what do you want to be when you grow up? Even though there's no idea they could possibly know. Right.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah. Yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

I know that you had influences by your parents, but like, as far as the things that you were shooting, what do you think it was about photography that stood out so strongly for you to say, I want to be a photographer at eight years old?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah, I really do think it was just the parental influence. my dad never, shared the dream to like, want to take that professionally, you know, he was really just enjoyed doing it as a hobby. But I think my mom had vocalized a few times that if she were in a career, that's the one she would have taken. and the reason I say, I think it's the parental influence is because my 14 year old daughter says the exact same thing.

Raymond Hatfield:

Wow.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

What do I want to be when I grow up? I either want to be an art teacher or a photographer. Like, that's currently her thing that she's been saying for a few years. And so, the only, you know, I put two and two together. I said that and I watched my mom with a camera and she says that and she watches me. So, I don't know.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah, when, if you think back to some of those photos that you were taking at eight years old, obviously now there's a large gap in the quality that has gone up over the years. Sure. If you go back and you look at those photos. Tell me, maybe not even from a technical perspective, but, like, what were the things that you love most about taking photos? Was it the subjects that you were photographing? Was it, uh, spending time looking at the photos after they were developed? What was it?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

it's the same things that I like to do now. Honestly, and when you say, when you ask that question, I was like, Oh my God, it's literally the same things. It is freezing time and capturing joy. And those are the two things that I love the most. And as a lifestyle photographer, I value the most. I value being able to freeze time and moments for my clients who either just had a baby and they're in the hospital or it's kids with their grandparents who aren't going to be alive for a few more years. You know, it's freezing that time, but then capturing joy. Is huge for me and genuine laughter and silliness and being able to see a family, let their guard down and really be real. That's the same kind of photos I was taking then of our friends having hilarious antics, you know, and being silly and those kind of moments is that genuine, joyful.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah, I have a very similar, affinity to those types of photos as well. I actually recently bought, this is going to sound like very blasphemous, but I bought a little point and shoot camera, right? This thing is like 12 years old, right? Just because I wanted to. Prove to myself, I guess, that, you know, oftentimes, especially for new photographers, they have this feeling that, like, settings are everything. Once I know settings, like, the, the quality of the photo is gonna go up. And I found that, personally, the photos that I love most are the ones with that joy, with that moment, right? Because anybody can take a technically perfect photo, I think, But a lot of what goes into making a photo stand out is waiting for that right moment, waiting for that joy, and then capturing that right then. So, getting back to new photographers and one of the things that they struggle with a lot is those settings, right? Mm hmm. Yep. Especially, you know, you start shooting in manual. It's like, you got the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, all these things that you have to worry about. And I know that that can cause overwhelm for many people because it can feel like there are so many things that you have to learn. Since you had got started earlier in photography and you had parents that were also photographers, did you have to go through that same struggle when you got back into photography later? on Oh, yeah,

Sabrina Gebherdt:

I did for sure. I think that my eye had stayed the same. And maybe that's something that was so ingrained in me to watch for those moments. And, I've never been one that enjoys shooting landscape or still life or pets or flowers or anything like that, because we shot families and emotion and moments. And So I think the, the, the artistic vision was still there, but the technical side, I mean, sure, I'd walked away from it for like seven years. And again, things had gone from film and I wasn't shooting manual as a teenager, by any means. So learning manual and learning digital at the same time, there was definitely a learning curve. And just like you said, beginners focus so much on getting everything right and it it causes them to not see the full picture. They're so worried about getting the, the, the bokeh and getting the right light and getting the color correction, correct. And then editing and all this that they can, miss the genuine stuff. and that's why I think that once photographers have really learned to flex that muscle to shoot in manual and they've got it down, that things start to relax and we're not so serious anymore. Like we realize that we've learned the rules, we can break the rules, and we've learned the rules and now it's time to have fun and express ourselves. But that really just comes with time. Like, You can't ever tell a brand new photographer to do that. I mean, you can tell them and tell them and tell them, but they're not going to, you know, they have to like, learn and cross that bridge themselves.

Raymond Hatfield:

And that's a very difficult thing. That's a very difficult thing because I think we live in this world, especially with YouTube that makes it look so easy. You know, photography is so simple. It's so easy. You just go out and it makes it even more difficult when there's some like, 19 year old college student who has no responsibilities in life except for, you know, to take amazing photos, who's trying to tell you, you know, how to shoot and that can be, that can be challenging. So, again, this, this feeling of, of overwhelm is something that is very, predominant in new photographers. So, having gone through that yourself, trying to learn manual, pick out all these things, How do you, how do you start to deal with that? Is it, is it just this idea that one day I'll get it and I just have to push through this? Or is there something else that we can do to, ease, ease our way through that transitional period?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah. I think knowing that you're going to experience that discomfort and that overwhelm and that learning curve. Knowing that that's normal that everybody goes through that is part of it. because so often we can feel like, why does it look so easy for her or him? And why is it so hard for me? and you kind of beat yourself up and that negative self talk and stuff. But when people are honest about the process. This is what it's like. We all couldn't figure it out for a long time. It, you know, it takes time to really master, knowing that that's part of the process and that you can expect that discomfort is part of it. And then the second part is truly shooting as much as you can, because the fast, the more you shoot, the faster you get over the hump. the more you put in the work, the more you try out different subjects and different people's kids and different whatever lighting scenarios and all of that. The more you do it, the faster you will get through it. and everybody says that, but it's true. There's no, there's no fast track, you know? I mean, it is what it is. You have to work through the muck to get over to the other side.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yeah, well, then tell me, because, you know, one of the things, that happens talking to a lot of, professional photographers like yourself is that, I'll say what were those early days life and it's like, it was difficult, you know, you shoot as much as you can, and then you get through it, but I think a lot of the people are in that middle stage right now, you know, so in that, in that feeling of, of, of possibly burnout, so can you tell me maybe from your own experience of a time where early on in photography, you had felt burnout and maybe thought about possibly giving up? Was that ever? A thought that came into your mind?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah, I think I know that I made the same mistake that a lot of beginners do. And that is I jumped into business way before I had any business being open. I had mastered manual technically, right? But I was still not consistent. I really had no clue what I was doing with editing. And I for sure had no clue what I was doing as far as running a business. I was taking on every single client that came to me. which I was very lucky that immediately upon deciding to be in business, I was flooded because it was all of our peers and church group and friends and preschool friends and all of that. and almost immediately I hit burnout because I went from, Oh, this is so fun. I'm doing it a little bit every day and practicing a little bit every day to shooting all the time. Every evening, every weekend, multiple families, I literally threw myself in the deep end and it was exciting. I will say that it was exciting that people wanted to quote unquote pay me money and I was, you know, in business, but I was so overwhelmed with still not having that confidence that comes with experience. instead of easing myself into business and saying, I'm still learning and I'm still practicing, but I'm going to take one client. You know, I'm going to take on this one thing. I'm going to test the waters. I just literally jumped straight in and was like, cool. I'm open. And, I was number one shooting too much. And number two, I was trying to over promise everyone. I was trying to make everybody happy taking on anything. Sure. I'll shoot that. Sure. I'll shoot. Yeah, I'll do that. You know, just completely disregarding what I wanted. And I was also completely disregarding. Myself and my personal life, like I had jumped so far into this passion. that it was consuming. It was all consuming. and then I was looking at the work that I was producing and I was frustrated because it wasn't the same as this person over here. Who'd been in business for 10 years. It wasn't the same. I came as this incredible artist in the industry, and I was beating myself up. And so it was this really ugly cycle of overwork, not enough time to myself, negative self talk because I wasn't where I wanted to be. You know, I wasn't enjoying the process at all.

Raymond Hatfield:

But isn't that just like, now I'm going to play devil's advocate here. Yeah, yeah,

Sabrina Gebherdt:

yeah.

Raymond Hatfield:

Isn't because I, I went through a similar phase, uh, early on in my photography journey And it almost felt like. Maybe, am I just paying my dues here? Like, isn't this what I'm supposed to do? I live in this little town. There's a lot of, you know, quote unquote competition out there. How can I expect to stand out and make a business, if that's what you want to do? without feeling like you have to hustle, hustle, hustle and do as much as possible.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's something to that for sure. because we do all start at the bottom, I do think social media has kind of ruined us and making that worse, because when I started off, this was before Instagram. Okay. This was back in the good old glory days of Facebook where you could throw up something and everybody saw it and everybody liked it and there was no drama. Um, You know, it was back just in the good old days and, starting a business. Like, I tell people that that was right around the time that Etsy had gotten started, and so this whole freelance, creative entrepreneur, everybody starting a business, doing the thing, and selling the thing that they love, like it was kind of a boom, right? and it was easy, because we weren't fighting with Instagram, it didn't exist, we weren't fighting with Facebook, We could just put our stuff out there and we would get business. And so I, we did all jump in too early. We were like, I like this thing. I have the supplies for it. Might as well make some money. Right. and there is something to that. After having been in the industry for as long as I have and having met as many photographers as I have, which the same with you, there are a lot of people who did not start out that way. There are a lot of people who were like, Nope, tap the brakes. I'm going to be very intentional. I'm only going to step in when I'm ready. I'm going to charge premium pricing from the beginning. I'm going to be real good at what I do. And they skipped over all that stuff. So that makes me think, is it a personality trait? Are there some of us that, you know, jump before we're ready on the regular? because I've seen it done plenty of times.

Raymond Hatfield:

That's a, I guess that's, it's a difficult question to answer now, especially when things have changed so much and continue to change so much, like this time next year, you know, I guess that the answer to that question would be completely different. okay, so let's, let's, let's look at then potentially where photographers are now, which is in this, this feeling of hustle, hustle, hustle. I got to do it. Right. So another one of the things that I hear a lot from photographers. Is that they're, they're worried about starting a business because if they do decide to do that, then they're worried that it's going to take all of the joy out of photography itself, right? Which I think at its core, once again, is, is that feeling of, of, of burnout, right? That feeling of an obligation towards this thing that you saw so much joy in, which is now consuming large portions of your life. So do you have any tips on ways that Even if people don't want to, you know, they don't want to get into the business side, but they're overwhelmed with just the amount of things that they have to think about or worry about or learn in photography. Do you have any tips on ways to mitigate that feeling so that we can maybe, I don't want to say slowly get into photography, but so that we can learn photography in a way that doesn't just wreck us and make us want to sell all of our gear in the next, six months?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah. So there's so many. facets to that question. And there's so many different types of answers. No, but so, I'm going to throw out a couple of different things that speak to different points. But first of all, And I say this all the time, and this is kind of a common phrase, but staying in your own lane. it is, again, social media has totally wrecked us. Okay? Like, good or bad, we see what everybody else is doing. We see what our neighbors are doing. We see what these industry greats are doing. And it is really hard to put yourself in a position where I am this brand new photographer. I love taking pictures. I'm really trying to fine tune my craft. I think I may want to open a business, but naturally I'm following all of these incredible photographers and it is almost impossible to stay in your own lane and not get frustrated that you are on a different path or at a different point in your path than they are. we just see them and we think that that is immediately attainable without remembering that it has taken them years and years and years to get to where they are. and so keeping your eyes on your own paper, staying in your own lane, maybe unfollowing those people that Sure, you might aspire to, you might love them, they might, have wonderful work that is beautiful that you love to look at, but if it's making you feel frustrated because how can they be there and I'm all the way over here, it's not a healthy spot to be in. You know, you're just going to continue to frustrate yourself. You cannot compare yourself to anyone that isn't anywhere else other than at the beginning at the starting line with you, right? Yes. Because that doesn't that leads to only frustration, right? Only frustration. the other thing I would say is I, I personally, and Through the, through the way that I have grown my own business and the path that I have taken, and then seeing the path that some of my students have taken, I always highly recommend investing actual cash money into education as early as possible, because it is a fast track. It does get you past a lot of those frustration points a lot sooner, whether it be the technical skills, or the business skills, or whatever. the life skills needed to manage a business and a household or whatever it is, right? It kind of gets you in the secret, you know, they let you in on things and having a mentor and a cheerleader and people that can say, well, I made that mistake. Don't do what I did do this instead. Right. It's that little kind of that staples easy button, you know? Um, so I feel like that, is always really, valuable when somebody is willing to invest in their business and take some education first, beyond just the YouTube and the blogs and the freebies,

Raymond Hatfield:

of course.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

so I think those two things are really big. The other thing is, and I, I, again, I tell people this all of the time. Especially, I teach females and so a lot of the women I teach are moms or thinking about becoming moms and you have to have a heart to heart talk with yourself about what season of life you're in and there are two paths. That we can take we can take the path of I really, really feel called to being a stay at home mom when my kids are little and that's wonderful. There's another path that is my kids are little, but I feel really called to grow this thing. That's wonderful too. They cannot perfectly coexist at the same time. One path is I'm in charge of my children and I can maybe very slowly work on this craft and this hobby and grow this business in my free time, which there's not going to be a whole lot of. Okay.

Raymond Hatfield:

Yes.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Or I can say, I'm going to trust my children with childcare providers. Whether it be an in home nanny or daycare or a sitter a few days a week so that I can grow this thing. Those are two different paths and they're both wonderful and there's no right or wrong. But you have to own up to which one you're going to take and then giving yourself the grace to say I'm going to stay home until my kids are all in school and then I'm going to grow this thing or I'm going to grow this thing now and I'm not going to feel guilty about having a nanny, right?

Raymond Hatfield:

Yes. Yes. okay. So obviously I think that a lot of the avoiding overwhelm comes from, clarity, clarity and knowing exactly what you want. And that's kind of what we were talking about right there. Having, making the decision, you know, what are you going to choose? Is it, staying at home with the kids, helping raise them or focusing on, on growing your business here. So once somebody makes that decision, Let's say for the sake of this podcast, because there's a lot of business podcasts out there, and we've spent a lot of time talking about kind of the business side today. Let's say somebody wants to do it slowly, right? And spend time with the kids. What is that thing that they should focus on? Maybe first, like what are the first few things that they should focus on before getting too deep in introducing, fear and anxiety in, in their learning process?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

So are we talking about they are comfortable in manual and technical and everything and they're just kind of easing into business and while their kids are at home or they're not even ready for business yet?

Raymond Hatfield:

Not ready for business yet. Yeah, I know. The majority of listeners of the podcast are those going from zero to one rather than one to a hundred. Okay. So they just picked up their camera at Costco or, you know, wherever it is. So what would be that first step for them?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah. So really learning your camera inside and out. I know everybody says that. I remember when I was doing the same, I kind of, as much as I loved my daughter, it got really boring shooting the same subject all the time. You know what I mean? Like I knew exactly where to place her in my house. I knew exactly what lighting situation, exactly what time of day, like there was no, I mastered that one exact. setting situation, but I didn't test the waters and everything else. And so being brave enough to bring your camera out of your house and to try stuff, which when you first have a DSLR, maybe it was just me, but I always got really nervous, like saying, I'm going to bring it to a play date, or I'm going to bring it to the park. Like I didn't want to feel kind of. ostentatious that like, let me get out my big camera. And you know, so being brave enough to do that though, makes a big difference because part of mastering your art is being able to shoot in different situations, different subjects, different skin tones, different lighting, all of that. And so test the waters. And if you're going to stay home with your kids, great. I'm sure they know other kids. I'm sure you're going to be at parks and playgrounds and playdates and vacations. And being willing to take your camera with you and not be afraid to get it out, and try out the different, all the different things, because that's where I feel like you really master it, is when you can walk into. Any lighting situation. You can walk into any group of kids or set up or whatever and you know exactly what to do. That's when you have mastered it. It's not when you're standing there and you're like, hold on, let me take a test shot. Nope, that's not right. Let me adjust this. Nope. That's you know, it's It's just knowing it's, it's, you have flexed that muscle memory in enough different situations that you know exactly what to do. but also keeping it fun because if this person is really just wanting to learn their camera and grow their art, it needs to be fun. Yes. Okay. There's no pressure. There's no, you're not giving these images to anybody. Nobody's paid for them. They don't have to go on a website. It is literally just for fun. There were a few years where I would give myself. Like projects and it would be okay. This week. I'm going to only shoot for black and white. So I'm going to look at light in ways that will really translate into black and white or this week. I'm going to only photograph things that are red, you know, and I would try and like really take advantage of the different, coloring and stuff or this week. I'm only going to do really tight images or really pulled back wide shots. and so kind of giving yourself all these themes to play with can be really fun. you know, people talk about 365s all the time and as hard as they are to do, they work, you know, they do, they work.

Raymond Hatfield:

We had somebody on the podcast, his name is Simon Ringsmith. He's been doing a 365 well now, I guess for eight years.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Oh man, I

Raymond Hatfield:

know. Very, very impressive. Yeah. Very impressive. And same with Ashley Marston. She's one of the most memorable, guests who we've had on the show who is.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

It's, it's true. And, you know, when you talk to any great, they will tell you that that is the game changer. Yeah. three 65s are hard. I tried and failed many, many, many times. And what finally worked for me was kind of rewriting the rules on what a three 65 actually was going to be. You know, you look around and you hear people toss around the 365 and it's a photo every day and you're gonna share it and you're gonna, you know, whatever, for me, that was too much pressure. It was too much pressure to perform. And I decided that I was going to only share it when I was really proud of it. So I was going to do it, but it was going to be literally for me. It wasn't going to put it on a blog. I wasn't going to no hidden page, nothing like literally just going to shoot it. And then I also took the pressure off myself to make it be with my big camera. I was like, you know what? An image is an image. I can take a great image on my phone. And if that's the image that I get that day, it still counts. and then the third rule I gave myself is if I miss a day, I can pick it back up the next day. So it doesn't have to be a. True, true, true 365 and that was the, that was the year that I did it

Raymond Hatfield:

was the year

Sabrina Gebherdt:

that I rewrote the rules for myself. and I kind of going back to what I said earlier, I kept my eyes on my own paper. I stayed in my own lane and I stopped watching all of these peers and their 365 and I was like, Nope, this is the way that Sabrina is going to do it. And that's the year that I did it.

Raymond Hatfield:

that's so cool. That is incredible. I think I think it's so difficult. you know, for me, personally, I need some sort of guidelines or accountability to be able to do something. And I feel like if I'm left up. If I'm left to making up the rules, I'm going to make it so relaxed, almost so that like I can't fail, but then I make it too relaxed that I fail. So it's a double edged sword for sure. but when you had said that, it actually reminded that Simon, uh, has not done a 365, but he's done a weekly, photo for the past seven, eight years. And one of his, rules that he gave himself was that the photo, cause he publishes a photo every week. Like he doesn't have to. Okay. Take the photo the week that he publishes it like he can take Multiple photos in a week and then maybe schedule those out for anyway, regardless back to, I think the point of what you were saying is that really figuring out how it's going to work for you is most important because at the end of the day, it's, it's you as a photographer who's looking to learn and grow. And it's not the goal is not, social interaction or likes or anything else. So if you can figure out how you can do that, that is really important. I absolutely agree, absolutely agree. I had a question though, going back to what you were saying about, kind of the goal of a professional photographer is to be able to walk into kind of any lighting situation and still be able to capture the photo, uh, you know, whatever it is with, with a technical proficiency that, you're going to capture that photo. So I have to ask. Is that the litmus test that you gave yourself before diving into business or was that a lesson?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

No, that's what you wish that

Raymond Hatfield:

you had done. Yeah, exactly.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Like I said, I jumped into business way before I should have been in business. I was good enough. Okay. I did not get complaints on the images I was shooting. I, I had people asking me for a long time if they could hire me. So, I mean, I was good enough, but I did not have that amount of confidence that I was like, bring me anywhere. I'm good to go. I mean, no, I was definitely shooting, at golden hour outside at a park with open shade, you know, all the perfect, all the perfect, easy things. And I wasn't comfortable shooting in people's homes at that point, which is now basically all I do. I wasn't comfortable shooting in a hospital setting, which I do a lot of now. I definitely was not comfortable shooting in low light, which I do a lot of in the hospital and in people's homes. So, that stuff came with time, but looking back, I think maybe you don't need to be 100 percent there to start your business and call yourself a professional, but you need to be really close. You need to have Full confidence that you can make this machine work for you, that you know exactly what to do.

Raymond Hatfield:

So, how do you go from, shooting in the park, golden hour, open shade, people are loving it, because that's a great look, and then giving yourself the, the, the, Space to be able to explore Shooting in a hospital setting because that's not something that many people find themselves in every day. So how do you ensure that you're able to? Work on your settings enough so that when that happens you can capture that proficiently.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah, so, I realized pretty early on within the first year 18 months that I got bored with the outside stuff. It felt too posed for me. Again, people love it. We've had our family photos taken like that. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. There is a place for that. It just felt too traditional for me, even though, even though I was doing it without people looking at the camera and in playful ways, it just didn't feel authentic to me and what I enjoyed. I enjoyed being in people's homes and I realized that by number one, realizing that Almost every photo I was taking of my own children was at home. And also, when I was given the opportunity to start photographing newborn sessions, I was in clients homes. I was not utilizing a studio. And even though I was doing like the posy, sleepy baby stuff at that point, I was bringing all that stuff to them. Okay, and so I was setting up the bean bag and doing the posy little stuff and then we would snap some shots in the living room or in the nursery with the whole family and real quick, I realized. That is what I like. I love how authentic people are at home. I love giving them the opportunity to look back at their images and remember this couch. Remember that living room. Remember, you know, when we had that dog. Because those aren't all things that you may not remember the park you photographed at, but you'll remember your first house, you know, and so that I realized really quickly that was important now, as far as the proficiency part of it, I was definitely not proficient in the beginning. It was a huge learning curve. I would get so panicked if I walked into people's and they had Navy blue walls and little tiny windows and dark leather furniture. I mean, I, my, like my insides would just cry, you know, and I would get so nervous. but I took courses and that's where I started really investing in my education because I was like, I want to learn how to do what they're doing. How does that look like that indoors and between the investing in the education and taking courses and. Practicing a lot going into a lot of homes. I now can tell you I can walk into anybody's house.

Raymond Hatfield:

Mm hmm.

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Sure I prefer the ones with big windows But I can walk into anybody's house And like I said, I photograph first 48s in the hospital all the time and some of them are big and bright and beautiful And some of them are dungeons You know It's it's practice. Yeah, so

Raymond Hatfield:

it's practice and that is that is the thing. I know that I really try to hammer in with new photographers. I sign off every episode with, you know, the more that you shoot today, the better that you'll be tomorrow because, um, it is so true. And, it feels easy for, for, I think, professional photographers to say that. So I'm glad that, it's not just me saying that, but you as well and you are the proof, by looking at your images, I can see why love what it is that you do for them. And that what you're able to produce there's something that is really something that is going to be looked at, I think for a long time, and enjoyed. And I, at the end of the day, that's what photography should, should be, right. It should be something that we can look back and enjoy this time that we're currently in and enjoy. And unfortunately with, with so many. pieces of gear and so many settings YouTube videos. It can be so hard to just slow down and enjoy the journey and take your advice and stay in your own lane and just shoot what you need to shoot to really learn and enjoy photography. So, Sabrina, this has been wonderful. I've really enjoyed this conversation with you today. We are, you know, you know, just here at the end of our time. So before I let you go, I know that there's going to be people who are excited to hear more about you and what it is that you do. So where can we find you online?

Sabrina Gebherdt:

Yeah, I am on Instagram more than I should be, um, at, at Sabrina Gebhardt photography, which is kind of a mouthful. So I'm, I know you'll have the link. but I actually go live, a couple of times a month and just do like Open Q& A for photographers, and those are always really fun because we get like a big mix of questions and So that's a great place to start for people is just to come pop into a Q& A and say hi and ask a question Get your question answered, but you can also find me online SabrinaGephardt. com and I have tons of freebies and resources and blog posts for getting started and All of that good stuff.

Raymond Hatfield:

Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of the beginner photography podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with a friend, start a conversation, grow together. That is it for this week. Remember the more that you shoot today, the better of a photographer you will be tomorrow. for listening to the beginner photography podcast. Keep shooting and we'll see you next week.