What a year it has been.

I’m going to depart from my normal programming of typing up all things joyous and positive about wedding photography, and just be completely real with you as I wrap up my feelings on this year, and on the last few years even.

Many of you know that I have been doing wedding photography since 2008 (and if you didn’t- now you do!). In fact, there are quite a few of you who have been with me since that very start, when I was so excited to dip into this world of weddings, I was so excited to grow and learn new things, I was so honored to be chosen time and again to capture the special moments.

And grow I did. With each year that passed, I booked more and more weddings, until I decided to spread my wings and go full time wedding photography in 2017. It was scary, it was thrilling, it was the biggest leap I had done professionally- and it was a success.

This time I grew faster. This time I booked even more weddings than ever, learned more things faster than ever, made connections with others in the industry like never before.

And of course there are a lot of great things about that! But one thing I still had to work on was work-life balance, because 2019 ended up being both amazing and also too much for my little body to handle. So I made arrangements/preparations to make sure 2020 wouldn’t look like that, where I could finally have a healthy balance that would allow me to give my all to my clients without burning the candle at both ends.

We all know what happened in 2020. I spent the year consoling distressed clients on so many telephone calls, trying to keep tabs on everyone’s changes (since everyone was doing something different- cancelling, rescheduling, rescheduling again, switching to a small wedding, adding hours, dropping hours, etc), trying to give advice as much as I could in a changing landscape, all while managing my own emotions about my business after the phone calls were done and upbeat, encouraging e-mails were sent. There was no one to console me about my financial anxiety as refunds were issued, payment schedules were shifted months or even a year out from originally planned, and not enough dates in the following year to sell to try to recoup as the reschedules were taking place.

So I did what every other small business had to do. I buckled in and went for the ride- I worked with my pandemic clients to make sure they were taken care of as much as possible- while also booking even more weddings than ever to try to make sure I was even IN business by the time the new year rolled around. More work than I had ever done, even in 2019.

I made it out alive in 2021 (and so grateful for every client who stuck with me, as well as the ones who tried to, but couldn’t), but I made it out feeling like I NEVER WANTED TO SHOOT WEDDINGS EVER AGAIN. That’s how affected I was; the pandemic’s effects on the wedding industry nearly took me out.

I really wasn’t sure I was going to recover from that feeling because I felt like that for a good, loooong minute.

But there were a few things about 2022 that really helped turned the tide for me and ended up making it the best year I’ve had for HereNorth since 2017:

1. I booked less weddings. I had 17 weddings this year! Instead of last year’s 35.
2. I brought associate shooters Scott & Cat to the team to be able work some summer weddings under my brand.
3. The majority of my weddings this year were with wedding planners, which….THEY ARE SO UNDERRATED. GET YOU A WEDDING PLANNER, PLEASE. These were the gems I worked with this year that I give a very special thanks to: Angela from Elite Wedding Planning, Emily from Emily Baldwin Events, José from José Rolón Events, Kristie from Weddings with Verve, Veronica from Veronica Joy Events, and Lindsey from Wildflower Events & Design.
4. I myself didn’t shoot any summer weddings (with the exception of 1).
5. I hired a virtual assistant to help put together my social media posts. (Hi, Vee! @itsvee.esther)
6. I made sure that even my busiest months had at least one weekend off so I could recharge.

And what was the result?

I can honestly say now: I am filled with gratitude, and I’m ending the year with a full heart towards my business. I know both “gratitude” and “full heart” are buzz words (honestly I cringe a bit when typing them out, haha), but I really can’t think of any better wording to encompass what I’m feeling. I’m grateful for the vendors and my clients I worked with who were so kind to me, who gave back to me just as I gave to them, and who believed in me in a tough moment of my life.

As for 2023: HereNorth is back and ready for you!

** NOW PLEASE ENJOY THIS COLLECTION OF ONE PHOTO OF EACH

WEDDING OR SESSION I DID IN 2022 THAT I LAAAV’D **