Beating Imposter Syndrome as a Photographer with Denetra Smith of RCK Photography

Welcome, welcome, welcome! Happy Friday, TGIF! Welcome to another day of Photos Made Simple Workshop. So if you are new to me, if you're just joining in the group, I am Zaakirah. I am your facilitator, your coach for the Photos Made Simple Workshop week. If you are just tuning in Please leave a comment. Let us know you are here. Before you leave a comment, let StreamYard show me and our special guest your name, because we are currently using StreamYard. And until we go back around into Facebook, we will not know who you are. So include your name or give StreamYard permission to show your name and tell us where you're coming in from. We have people from 34 countries in this group, 30+ US cities. We have people from all over. So also, I understand if you are in a completely different time zone and you are unable to watch It's a live video. If you are watching the replay, leave a comment. Let us know that you're watching the replay. The more you comment, the more we know that you are engaging, the more we also know that you are implementing and doing the homework assignments. Every day this week in this workshop, we have had homework assignments. The only way you can see these homework assignments is if you download our workbook. So if you have not already, make sure you are going to the units in this group, the unit section and the announcement section in this group to catch up on what you've missed. Also on day 1, where we talked about mastering your device, day 2, where we talked about the basic photography rules, and day 3, where we talked about the photography tools for you to use and post and share and network with other photographers. And yesterday, day 4, we had a special guest, Dr. Tamaya Coven. She is a Sony Artisan, she's an educator by default, Turned photographer, and she dropped so many gems on how you can really become a better photographer. Because right now you're a novice, you're a beginner, you don't know everything about photography, which is why you joined this workshop. You joined this workshop to learn from other photographers. I have been photographing for 10 years now, and it is that time where I realized that a lot of people are just buying the big bad baby expensive cameras or using their iPhone and not to the full capabilities. They're not studying their manuals, and so that's why we have this workshop to make sure to take out the frustration of not using auto, but knowing what the other modes on your camera are for. Okay? So definitely make sure that you are leaving a comment. If you happen to have any friends in this group, tag them in this comment to make sure that they are able to watch this video. Okay? This video will be up for replay. All these videos will be up for replay until Tuesday, August 18th. All the videos will be up for replay until Tuesday. After that, it is taken down, and we are moving over to the paid platform for this workshop. This is a free workshop in this Facebook group, but we have a continuation of this in the paid platform. Be sure to also check our feed. how to enroll for that. We'll also come back around and put a comment in for that as well. So now, without further ado, I'm going to introduce Danitra Smith. She is of— I love to call it RCK Photography, R-C-K Photography. And she— we met actually through Dr. Tamaya Colvin. She has a community called Tamaya Colvin Education where a lot of photographers, no matter what level you are, um, can join in and learn and to post and to network. And so back when I was living in Nashville, Tennessee, uh, we got to meet up in person right before the pandemic hit, and we got to literally have a photographer meetup and mini shoot. So we took photos of each other. So funny enough, the photo that you see of me in here, she took, and the photo that, uh, you saw, um, of her on her flyer, I took as well. And so she also had— was a great supporter in attending my book signing. I had a book signing for, um, my book, which is called Seeing Life Through a Different Lens. It's a memoir on how I overcame cancer, which is actually how a photograph detected the cancer in my eyes. So it's a full circle of I'm a full-on photographer, and I talk about the story a little bit. My mom and I talk about the story a little bit, but most importantly, we encourage you to step outside of your comfort zone. That is our mission, and that is going to be the theme of today's conversation, as well as talking about how to master lighting and how to just really step outside of your comfort zone and overcome imposter syndrome. So I'm going to bring in Denetra Smith right now. Hi, Denetra.

Hi, Zaakirah.

How are you?

Good. How are you doing? Good.

Thank you so much for being here today. It's going to be a great conversation of teaching those who are where we once were, right? We were all learning at some point. And, um, yeah, it's just, it's a great opportunity for people who are willing to teach others because I've been— we both have been in that situation of photographers feel like it's a big old secret to just kind of become a better photographer. So I guess let's just start off with that. Start off with telling me how— who you are for those who don't know you and how you got into photography.

Okay, so like Zaakirah said, I'm Denitra, and I do live in a town called Mount Juliet that's right outside of Nashville, probably like 20 minutes outside of Nashville. And, um, I've actually— I'll just say I've been a photographer, I feel like, my whole life. But, um, my mom— I think I was probably about 11, somewhere around that— anyway, my mom gave me this 110 camera, like Some of y'all are too young to know what that is, but back in the day we had film cameras and one of them was a 110 camera. You had to put the little film in there and it had a little flash cube and you had to, you know, do the whole thing with getting the thing. And then I would go with her to Walmart and she would get my film developed. And, um, I used to like just love like looking through the pictures and like it was me being able to tell our family history or our family story through my viewpoint. And so my mom used to keep all these photo albums everywhere. And so Then my picture started being a part of the photo album. So I was like excited to see how that happened and, and how I kind of became a part of our telling our family story. And so I wasn't a paid photographer, of course, by any means then. Did a little bit of photography in high school, you know, but nothing like what I'm doing now. So kind of the, the, the fast forward into the story there is my— I married my husband who's a Marine. You know, he's no longer active duty, but, you know, once Marine, always Marine. I married him. He deployed after 9/11. And so I picked back up the camera because by then we had had a child and I didn't want him to miss anything. So I started photographing her and a couple of our friends would bring their kids and I'd photograph them and just do stuff for fun, kind of like that. But it still wasn't a paid thing at all. And I'm a nurse by trade. So by definition, because—

Mm-hmm.

As you know, when we were growing up, you knew there were photographers, but it was like Olan Mills and Sears and all of those types of places.

Sears, Sears, Sears.

Right, but it wasn't anybody doing what we're doing now where it's like a boutique type photography or where you're traveling, or it was either like even the newspaper people, those were the photographers you saw. So those are the only people you saw making a living from photography. And I was one of those that supported them. I cannot tell you how many Olan Mills Photos we have in here. But anyway, so I was doing photos and just kind of did it for fun and just really liked taking pictures of people and just doing just different things. Still had no clue, like formal training about what it was I was doing. I just knew if I'd moved this here or did this that way, you know, it looked this way, or just trying to capture things that were really kind of lifestyle moments, like catching the kids while they're eating or playing or whatever. So, but I never thought it was that spectacular. So fast forward, he gets up.

Yeah, yeah.

Right. So fast forward, I'm still being a nurse and kind of just photographing on the side. And then we moved here to Nashville 'cause my husband was going to school and all that stuff. And we joined a church. And when we joined this church, their son, the pastor's son, was graduating. And at that time I had just gotten my first DSLR camera, right? So I'm like, yeah, right. The T1i, the Canon T1i. So this is years ago. So I was thinking I'm really doing something, you know. I got a DSLR now. I'm upgraded from the film, y'all, and the little point-and-shoot digitals, right? So now I got a film camera. I'm like, I'm finna do it. And it changes lens. I got a couple lens. I'm really fitting to get into it. Had no clue what I was doing, y'all. None whatsoever. When I got this thing, it was like, for me, it was a beast because I had no clue. Like, even reading the book, I didn't understand anything about this camera. But I was like, well, I'm just gonna play with it. Right. So I just got out, start shooting and doing stuff, and I realized, okay, well, if you set it here, you set it there. And then someone told me about what the M stood for. For, you know, I'm like, okay, oh, you got to turn this dial. Oh, it's got an A and a P and an M and a TV. Like, I don't know what none of that means, right? So I start playing with the knobs, and, you know, even reading the book is still— none of that really translated to what this meant. So I started doing that. Well, right about that time, um, CreativeLive started. And so, um, with Chase Jarvis. So I was like, oh, and it was an online, uh, photography platform. So you could go and watch these free classes and learn how to do things.

But what was so funny is that it started out with just photographers and now it's like—

Right now it's like everything. There's music on it, business, finance. Yeah, yeah. So it's all this stuff. It's so— it evolved also, but But just initially it was photographers and it was almost like they were teaching the secret sauce, if you will. There isn't really one, but you felt like there was because when you would approach someone in person a lot of times that was a photographer doing these things that wasn't a Lifetime or Sears or JCPenney photographer, when you would approach them, they wouldn't really want to tell you their secrets because it was like, oh, you might get out there and do what I'm doing and maybe take clients. You might be better than me. Right. And so there was this real secret to life. When Chase Jarvis started CreativeLive and I could watch and all these people were coming on, like several different people. Well, one of the people that came on there was a lady named Bambi Cantrell. And when I watched her and she did like simple stuff and like she showed you how to do the camera and all that kind of stuff. And then she was like, oh, and I just use this tool and you can wrap this and do this. And like I watched her create these incredible portraits from stuff that was like in your house. And it was like, and she was like, yeah, I started in my living room because I was a single mom. Like, I went through a divorce and I had these, you know, a kid I had to take care of. And so this is what I started doing to support us. And, and she talks about like, even her journey was inspiring. So I was like, oh, I can definitely do this, right? Like, so I can supplement my income as a nurse and do this. So I started, you know, photographing my children differently. So not like how I was before in the efforts to like preserve memories and that kind of thing. Now I started with the creative side of, okay, now I'm fixing to branch out and really create some stuff and like do stuff. Well, then comes that chink in the chain of learning lighting, right? So I'm like, I don't have any studio lights, so how am I gonna make this work, right? So I'm still just out there playing, whatever. And then, um, so like I said, I got to photograph the pastor's son. So everything's being done natural light at this point, and we go around Nashville and photograph him. Well, I did apparently so well photographing him that the pastor's wife, um, Dr. Susan West— she's, um, vice president over at Belmont University in Nashville. But anyway, so she then was like—

The music— most people—

yeah, yeah, exactly.

Come out of that school.

Yeah, exactly. So she was like, you, you know, you've got a gift. Like, this is— people should be paying you. And she goes, in fact, you know, yeah, it's great that you're a nurse, but sometimes she's like, God gives people more than one gift. So you have the gift to care for others and everything. But she was like, in photography, you're still caring for those people because a lot of people, including myself, have a hard time loving themselves and seeing themselves the way everybody else sees them. And she was like, you're able to show this to people. Like, she was like, like, my son had a great time being photographed. He never wants to be photographed, you know, it seems like, but he was just hanging out with you and it was fun and whatever you were doing. It translated. And I was like, okay, and she paid me. And I was like, what? You know, wait a minute. I can do this. I can get a check for this. So then here we go. Fast forward. Now I'm in business. Like, I'm gonna do this. But of course, I have no clue how to run a business, like whatsoever.

Like, everything is really a level up.

Yeah. So it was like, okay, now I've got to figure out how, like what Tamaya was talking about yesterday, like, you got to practice more with this camera, you got to really understand, because now if you're in business, and people are going to pay you, you got to be able to duplicate what you did for the other person. Like, these people are going to come to you because word of mouth— they've seen what you've done and word of mouth says, oh, you're great at this. But if you can't duplicate what you did for that person, you're in trouble if you're trying to make it a business. So that's why you got to learn your equipment and learn how to work. Even like I was working with natural light, I had to learn how to work with natural light. And thank God again for CreativeLive because Some of what I learned about business was coming from Jasmine Star, and then enter Sue Bryce, and that, y'all, was the game changer. So when I started following Sue Bryce, that kind of flipped the whole business and lighting thing and gave me a whole new respect for photography and creating and what you could do just operating out of your house with just what you have. Like, what you have is enough, but learning how to use it. better, you know. So when she talked about lighting and she was talking about using like just foam core, you know, I'm talking about your kids', um, school project foam core and bouncing light and using your natural light and subtracting light. Because honestly, like, people were talking about, oh, how to light this and throw light at it and whatever. And you'll see people on magazine shoots and stuff like that, they'll have like 16 lights, right? And so I'm like, there's no way I can create that. But then I watched this woman— I can't afford it. There's no way I'm going to be able to create it because I can't— I don't have 16 lights to throw at something. And then, you know, and I got this little living room, you know. I don't know where to do— So when I found Sue Bryce, she kind of, um, showed you ways to do it with natural light, you know. And then I found out that it was more in the art of creating shadows. So it wasn't even really how you use the light, it was where you put the shadows that made the difference. And so I was like, oh, okay, I can totally— yeah, now this resonates. Like, I can totally do this. I don't need the fancy, you know, setup and whatever. And so as I'm learning, my girls kind of had taken it— I have 3 girls, and they had kind of taken an interest too. And I swear to God, they probably heard Sue Bryson in their sleep.

Like, approximately?

Um, so the oldest is in college, the middle one is in— she's getting ready to graduate high school this year, and then the youngest is a junior. But of course they had to be my in-house models.

Right.

Like all the time for practice, you know. Um, so then they started even learning how to do things and they would even kind of play with each other and take photos of each other and stuff like that. So even seeing them do it as young as they were at that time, like we're talking like they were 9, 10 years old, the oldest one. Um, seeing her repeat or, you know, kind of mimic me and shoot, you pick up my camera and shoot with her sisters and stuff like that. That's when I realized like, okay, Anybody can do this. Like, anybody can do this.

As long as they put in the work.

Right. And you start to understand, because there's no way, you know, she knew how to use a camera, but she had watched what I did. And so she's like, oh, if I put the curtain like this or put the, you know, and I can do this. And then she didn't know what all the dials and numbers meant, but it was like, oh, but when I look at the back of the camera, you know, the little preview, I know if I move this one up, more light comes in. I know if I move this one up, less light comes in, you know. So she kind of just learned by trial and error. And that's what I tell people too, like, even if you don't, um, know, you know, or have— some people are visual learners, like, don't want to read the book. Let's just, you know, talk about that. You know, nobody wants to read books anymore. And I will not lie, I am a student at YouTube University because I'm a visual learner.

Yeah.

So I'll log on to YouTube, like, I'll search how to do so-and-so if I want to learn how to use you know, studio lights. In fact, that's where I kind of started learning. When I did start using studio lights, I started going on YouTube and just asking how to use a flash, how to do this, how to do that. And I went on there and I started looking at people. Now, some people aren't great at teaching it. I won't lie. Like, some of the content you'll have to just take with a grain of salt. Like, you're like, they're not that great at connecting with me. I'll just say it like that.

Mm-hmm.

It wasn't what I needed to learn the way that they were teaching. But a lot of people on YouTube, really have invested in breaking things down to the simplest point where you can understand how to do things. And I always thought too, when I first started, because there's different ways to edit photos after you've taken the photo, right? So I always thought—

Many different ways to edit.

Right. So I always thought part of what that magic sauce was, what they were doing after they took the photo, like, oh, they're going into Photoshop and they're doing this and doing that. But then, like I said, watching people like Sue Bryce and Felix Koons and some of the other people that I watched who just— you see them get it almost the exact look of what they want right in the camera. So just by knowing how, like I said, to subtract the light and pose the person and do all this stuff. So they— a lot of it is just really doing hands-on shooting and experimenting and doing all of that type stuff. There really isn't just that Photoshop secret sauce like I thought there they were putting on. And a lot of times—

Hold on a second. If you are not getting your workbook right now, you need to take notes. Okay. You may have to come back and listen to this because she just dropped like 5 little gems. Okay. She is dropping bombs. Leave comments if you're like, yes, honey, this is— yes. Right.

And so it's about like getting it right in the camera, doing most of the work while the person's there in front of you and, and learning that, you know, learning how to pose a person like There is a difference in what type of look you're trying to accomplish for your finished product. So I always tell people, shoot with your end result in mind. Don't be like—

Say that again. Say it again.

Right. Shoot with your end result in mind. Don't be lazy, because I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't a lazy photographer at one point in time. But yes, I was a, oh, I'll do that in Photoshop later, until I started having to do Photoshop a lot. And then you're like, Okay, now I'm just gonna tell her to move her hand next time when I photograph somebody. Like, I'm not gonna have her head tilted this way. I'm gonna, you know, take the time and slow down and get this right, right then, or move this light slightly to the left instead of trying to fake light in Photoshop. You know what I mean? So I tell people all the time, like, slow down a little bit, pay attention to what you're doing, because you don't want to have to repeat it in Photoshop. And then the other thing—

That's actually exactly what you did when we were, um, you know, doing our Photography headshot exchange. Yeah, that's literally what it was. We spent like 4 hours and you're like, okay, I'm— let me look at this photo really quick. I'm gonna get my idea of what I want. Okay, cool. Now this is what you're going to do. So, and I'm like, cool, you know. And the end result was perfect. Perfect.

Yeah. And that was the same with you. It's like, okay, we'll move this way. Okay, we'll stand on the edge of this. I want it to be dark in the back, so move closer this way, you know. And it's a lot of doing that And learning how to tell people, you know, talk to people and how to do that. Um, I want to say that, uh, when we work together, the other thing, uh, since we're talking about getting— pushing past, um, comfort zones— first of all, y'all talking with the camera pointed at my face, I already told Zaakirah, you are really pushing me out of my comfort zone. But that's not nothing.

Yeah, I did.

Listen, that's nothing new to her because I'm going to tell you, on that shoot what she's talking about where we swapped headshots and kind of just hung out with each other that day. We spent like a lot of time with Joe just because we had a good vibe. Normally we both agreed like, oh, we only spend like an hour swapping headshots. Y'all, we had such a good time connecting. And it's funny because it's like photography is a whole nother language. So if that person speaks your language, you know, it's like going to a foreign country and they speak English. You're like, yes, score!

Exactly.

So then you want to spend all your time with that person. So Um, when we got to working, like, we were walking around and just having a good time. Well, we came outside this barbershop. Do you remember this?

Oh, absolutely.

I don't know if you remember. Anyway, so there's like this retro-looking, really cool barbershop, y'all, in Murfreesboro.

Because I wouldn't have noticed if it wasn't for you. But yeah, go ahead.

And so we're doing some headshots. They had a really cool gray textured wall, and, um, Zakirah noticed the wall first. She was like, oh, that'd be really good. Let's get some gray because Gray is like a neutral color. Every, you know, everything looks good when you put it, you know, in front of gray. You can always do whatever. And I was like, yeah. And then I just kind of was looking in the window and this barbershop was so retro. And I was like, this is really cool barbershop. And I was like, I would— and then there was a guy in there with a very, you know, James Dean kind of Rebel Without a Cause look. And he was like very hip and trendy looking. And I was like, oh my God, I would love to take his photo. And Zakirah's like, Well, why don't you? And I'm like, well, because I'm not, you know, he didn't hire me and they're at work. Like, she goes, ain't nobody in that barbershop? Go in there and ask him. And I'm like, no, we can't do it. And so y'all, she like literally opened the door and I had no choice but to go in with her because like I didn't want to be standing outside looking retarded. So she goes in and she's like, hey, my friend and I, we're like out doing some headshot swaps, you know, we're both photographers in the area. And like she talks to them and they're like, Yeah, go ahead and photograph us. So we're like, okay. And so we're like snapping some photographs and they're like, oh yeah, you're welcome. Well, fast forward to after that day when we both have kind of edited our photos, we both sent them, um, the photos we had taken and they've actually posted them to their, um, uh, Instagram and their website and they're using our photographs. And I was like, what? Like, they like it. Yeah. And they tagged us with credit and everything, like, hey, these people are awesome. They came through and like told the story just like what we're telling you now, how we went in. And I was like— and I told her, I said, you know, I would have never gone in there. Like, if you hadn't have made me go in there and talk to them, I, I was completely fine standing on the sidewalk, minding my business, drinking my water. I was not going in there. But so I will say, to her credit on that, like, she— get around people that will push you also. Like, get around someone who sees in you what maybe you can't see in yourself that will push you forward and encourage you to get out there and do the thing that you're most afraid to do because they can see that you have the ability to do it. I don't think if she thought that I was like a crap photographer, like really not good, I don't think she would have opened the door. I'm just going to be honest. She might've been like, I'll come note this up another time.

No, we barely exchanged photos, but it wasn't even that. Maybe what we want— that's a good point of view of, sure, you know, there's social media now where I could have— yeah, we had to— we found each other in a Facebook group, so of course I've seen your work, I've seen— I've interacted with you, so I had that first impression already of she's a cool person, she likes photography just as much as I do, she's really good at photography just as much as I do, and then came the interaction. So it does actually start before—

Right.

Um, before we meet. So yeah.

Yeah. So like these Facebook groups are awesome. You know, some of them I know can be kind of catty. Like there's still some people out there that want to, uh, you know, not share their information as if it's some big secret. But now we're in this, this realm of where it's actually more advantageous to you to share what you know. It really is. And I always tell people like, there are millions of people on this earth. Okay? And I can't photograph them all, and I don't want to. You know, like, I don't do weddings. I have lots of friends who are terrific wedding photographers. I don't take that from them. And if somebody asks me, do you do weddings? I'm like, no, but I got 5 other people I can refer you to, because that's not— I don't feel like that was my gift. Now, could I photograph a wedding? And do I sometimes? Yes, I will photograph weddings sometimes for like— I have friends that are very, very close, and it's going to be a really small wedding or something like that, or an elopement or something like that. I'll do those things for the, you know, friends or close family, stuff like that. But I don't advertise that because that's not what I want to do. That's not— I don't feel like that is where I am strongest.

So what do you like to do? I know you have your own home studio.

Yes, I have a little, um, natural light. It's really the morning room that we just turned into. We repurposed it as my studio. So it's like 10 by 10, you know, my little, little magic. So you— it doesn't have to be like A big space. I mean, I know people that will set up in their living room, like they'll move the couch, the TV, and, you know, roll up the rug and get busy. You know, it's not that hard. It's really about what you can, using what you can in the space you have. So just even doing it in the little natural light studio, it was an adjustment a little bit because in our other house I did have more space. But in here it was just a little bit smaller. But then what I did love is that I did have all the windows where in the other house I only had one big window and I had to like learn how to manipulate light using that one window. So now I have like multiple windows and I can do that. But especially like what I said, like learning how to mimic light, like natural light, because I do like how natural light looks. So one of the things that I did learn is if you do get a flash and stuff and you don't want it to be that like, hello, deer in headlights, flashy hotspot kind of light is learning how to diffuse light. That's what we call it when you're putting it through a softbox or bouncing it off of a wall or doing, you know, some of the things that we do with light. Or getting the foam core boards, like I told you, that are like, you know, the kids' school supply. Like, you can totally point your flash at a foam core board and have that person in front of you and bounce that light right into their face, and it's going to look soft and it's going to look natural. So it's learning how to— Do those things. And I think somebody had posted a comment in here a minute ago about shooting your shot, like just ask, like open your mouth. Back to our, our other part about taking chances.

Yeah, Trevor said all people can do is say no, so don't be afraid.

Right. Yeah. And you know, my husband has something he says that he learned, you know, even as a kid, like closed mouth never gets fed. You do have to open your mouth and speak up, which I, you know, I am learning to do more now because of the other photographers that I surround myself with that are doing what I want to do. And that, that's where I will say that, you know, being around in groups like this and Facebook groups like this, being around people that are learning like you're learning, maybe they're a little bit more advanced in the process of learning, but you guys are both still taking away things from each other. Because even me, I found out, you know, just being in some of these groups, even me being a novice You know, like when I first started, like having really little concept of some of the things that they are doing and like not knowing the terms for the things that they were doing. Even some of the things that I would say in the group or the questions I would ask would cause them to expand on their knowledge to be able to come back and answer my question. So don't ever think that you don't know enough or you're not enough. Or, you know, your question is stupid. You know, it's not. It really isn't. Because there's somebody else out there that was scared to ask that question, because they were afraid of looking stupid. And they were afraid of, you know, not being smart enough or not, you know, getting out of your comfort zone, you know. And I will tell you, Zaakirah also, you know, we talked about imposter syndrome. She touched on that too when we were first getting here.

Too much. Too much.

Right, exactly. And for me, and I don't know, Zaakirah can speak to this for herself, but we, we did have conversations about this, but I did share with her. I was like, for me, I felt like I was having, um, imposter syndrome. And for people that don't know what that is, it's kind of where you feel like you're a— because there were groups even going around about Photographers, people that did not take the time to study the craft, study their camera, study lighting.

F-A-U-T-O-G-R-A-P-H-E-R.

Right. Yep. And so people were going around talking about, oh, you're photography, or you're a Photoshopographer. So remember those people that I was telling you about, fix it in post, fake it till you make it? Those type of people that slap an action or a preset or something on their photo and not take the time to understand how it works and what the actual look you're going for is. Anyway, imposter syndrome shows up when you do feel like you're not enough or you don't have enough knowledge to speak on something. Like, that was one reason why I struggled on getting on here and talking to people, because I was like, oh my God, what do they— what can they learn from me? Like, I don't even do this full time, you know? I'm not even— but then I was like, okay, stop that. And I, and I even had taken through our, uh, through Tamia's course, the, uh, With Nana, Anan, the other photographer, Nana. She talks about the myth of a part-time photographer because she said, and I'm kind of just paraphrasing what she said when we took the class, basically anything you do in life is full-time. You are not a part-time wife. You're not a part-time daughter. You're not a part-time mother. You may work a job part-time, meaning 4 to 6 hours or 24 hours a week, but they still— you're still thinking about that job when you leave that job because you got to get up in the morning and go do it again. Or, you know, or there's projects that you know you're gonna have to do. So in the back of your mind, that job is still there. You're still working it, you know, without realizing that you're working it. So you're still— you may have part-time hours, but you're still a full-time employee, and you may have part-time benefits. But you still are full-time committed to that thing. So photography is that same time. You can be a full-time photographer with part-time hours. And that's really what I had to realize is I'm a full-time photographer. I still have to run this business. I still do all these things. And I don't know who's commenting, but they said something about, I believe everyone is a photographer no matter what level you are. And I agree with that. No matter what level you are, you'll grow. And I have these conversations with people all the time that are like, well, I don't have your fancy camera and all your lenses. Y'all, that, that's—

That's what this group is about.

That's the biggest— that is the big— and I'm just gonna call it what it is— that's the biggest lie ever told, okay? Because before I had this camera, I was still a photographer at 11 years old. With a little camera, you know, with the flash cube. Yeah, it was about— yeah, it was about— and it wasn't even, um, you know, some people even say like the eye or whatever, that's how they'll terminology it, but it was like, um, wanting to just tell the story without words, like learning how to— and I say that even in respect to— I've worked with and photographed dancers, you guys. Some of these dances that I've watched people do have brought me just to tears because the way that the art and the beauty of the way they tell the story with their bodies, you get it, you feel it, you have that emotional connection. And so I say, even if you've got a cell phone and you know how to use it to see light and to shape that light around somebody or to shape that light around the story you want to tell, it can, you know, it can be just as beautiful as what we can do with these $3,000 cameras. You know what I mean?

You can.

It doesn't matter the equipment you're using, it's how you use it. Like, you could give me seriously, literally, a Playskool camera, like Fisher-Price Playskool camera, and what I'm gonna do with it is gonna be different than what Zaakirah is gonna do with it. But I bet you both things will be beautiful, you know?

Exactly.

Because it's gonna be the passion behind what we see and the way that we want to tell the story we're using that particular camera to tell the story.

It's a mindset thing. It's really a mindset thing. You really have to believe that You have to believe in yourself, believe in your device, believe in, you know, your future that you know you want with or without photography. But once it's in you, it's definitely in there. We got a couple of comments coming in. Okay, go ahead. So one of them said that they produce good work with just a $99 point-and-shoot. Been there, done that. We've all been there, done that. Absolutely. And then there's another comment that they're paraphrasing a quote, I think. Uh, the person who asked the question is a fool for 5 minutes, but the person who doesn't ask a question at all is a fool for life, right?

Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. I agree with that. Yeah, and you know, nobody's going to really judge you.

They should actually rewind a little bit. They should not. This— yeah, this group will not.

Yeah, and I mean, nobody will not. But yeah, nobody should really be judging you because Because at some point in their career, in their life, they've had to ask.

Be where you are.

And they had to ask and they had to grow. And that, that's really, I think, what this group is about, um, helping people to grow, you know, and helping you understand how to use what you have. And that's what I'm saying, like, we have cell phones now, y'all, that can make whole movies. I mean, I've, I've watched people make Hollywood-type epic movies with a cell phone.

Magazine covers and album covers on that.

Right now, like, this is the pivot. This is the whole pivot that's exposing the myth that you need this expensive camera. Because with COVID people are shooting whole magazine spreads with a cell phone, you know, and, and the apps on the cell phone to edit it. So it's not even going to like Lightroom or Photoshop. I mean, although that— I think Photoshop and Lightroom both have the mobile. Yeah, where you can do it on the phone and everything.

What other apps have you seen? What other apps do you recommend?

But, um, but there's like Snap, AppSeed. And I think you talked about VSCO the other day. And I mean, there's just a ton of like, it's way too many to even name for all the things that you can do. And even with shoot, you know, doing video reels, there's so many apps that will help you turn your cell phone video into, you know, all these like Animoto and, you know, all these different people. And they even have like the music that you can download, like the royalty-free music where you're not even being charged for a licensing fee really, you just pay your little monthly subscription to your app, and they pay all of the other royalties and licensing fees for you to be able to have access to the music.

Actually, even, um, YouTube. Like, I just had— yeah, yeah, like those who may— who want more people to see their work but they don't have a website yet and they get okay traction on Instagram, make a little reel, like slideshow of your work, pick a music from YouTube Music, and you have a little You know, something to send people from YouTube.

Yep. And I mean, that's what I'm saying. It's all about the pivot right now too, because in COVID, I mean, just everybody trying to be safe. Like for myself, I do have studio lighting and some of it I can take outside, but you know, the stuff that has to be plugged in, you can't take it to a park in the middle of the park and plug it in. So having to learn how to shoot outside also and, you know, reuse what you have. And I like— people will say like, how do I shoot outside? I mean, like the sun is everywhere. It's just one big old light. It's one big old light. And then that's what you learn about, okay, well let me find some open shade or let me get a scrim. Because in Hollywood, I don't know if you guys have ever been on set of a movie, they use these big old things that are like scrims to block some of the sun because they still want it to look like natural light, but they've got to block some of the sun so that it's not like direct light. And so everybody's lit evenly and all of that kind of stuff that comes into making a movie. And having it be consistent for the editors and stuff like that. So I think that's a pivot too. So like, even I kind of look at it like a challenge, like, okay.

Yeah.

Challenge accepted, COVID. We're gonna figure out how to do other things and pivot in this business and still be able to do your photography the way that you want to. But it is making you have to exercise that muscle of seeing different. Again, um, because it's easy, you know, I won't say it's not easy to go in when you get used to a certain setup, going in and just duplicating that because you know it, you know. Like, I know if I put this light right here and I do this and I do that, well, what happens when you can't bring somebody in your studio and do that safely? Because that's the, that's the name of the game, is we all want everybody to be safe, you know. And especially me as a nurse, like, I focus on That probably a little bit more than some people who are photographers. Like, I'm like, okay, how do I sanitize this camera? How am I gonna— how am I gonna pose people without touching them? Although, you know, you— and you do have to relearn those things. You can absolutely 100% pose somebody without having to walk up and touch them, you know. But trying to navigate that now that that has to be at the forefront of your mind, you know. Absolutely.

I feel like I'm just about to say this is actually a great conversation. And just like we did when we— whenever we see each other, we can go on and on and on because we do, just like Trevor said, two peas in a pod. So great, just a great chemistry together. And this is— this has been great. I want to, um, I want to close out with thanking you for being here. Oh, thank you. Thanking you for stepping outside of your comfort zone. Thanking you for fulfilling your passion and seeing life through a different lens.

Yes. And get the book, guys. If you haven't gotten Zaakirah's book, it is so good, guys.

It really is for everyone, honestly.

I'll say it like this. One of the things you asked me to do was talk about who inspired me, which I kind of touched on some other photographers that I've worked with. But after I read her book, you guys, like, to over— you don't understand how much of your other senses have to kick in, you know. Whereas we get to take for granted that we have both eyes to see and we can hear, you know, where you have some hearing loss and one eye that you can see out of. And you're still able to create this imagery like that didn't stop you. So that's That's completely 100% inspiring to me. Like, oh my gosh. And then the fact that it is a photograph that, you know, really essentially saved your life. That's like, guys, we're doing life-saving work here. No lie. Like, for real, seriously. And all jokes aside, like, what you do today as a photographer is gonna live, outlive you. You know?

Yeah.

And it could lead to something greater, you know, like what's, what's happening with you, what happened with you, them being able to diagnose you, you know, because of a photograph. So it's like, I, since you mentioned your book, I was like, I gotta talk about that. But it was her journey and her mom's persistence on, you know, being a mom and advocating for her. Like, there's something not right here. And taking her to see all these specialists and just actually, honestly, your whole family's journey because you're not the only child. So you can, you can talk about that. But, but how your siblings, you know, everything had to just change for them to even, you know, their lives and having a sister, you know, that had something go on that could have been, you know, tragic. And how they dealt with it, but then how photography has kind of become your therapy. So that's, that's incredible.

Thank you, thank you. I don't even have anything to say after that.

You said it all. I think it could be therapy, y'all. So see, it's life-saving. There you go.

Yes, yes, take it, take it. Well, thank you. This has been great. Um, I think— I know everybody has been learning a lot. You know, they said this is brilliant, this is a great session, this is so good. So thank you for being here.

Thank you.

And I want to just give you a virtual hug since we can't, you know, not physically.

The hug emoji.

Exactly, exactly. Yes, yes, we'll do that. So I will definitely see you at the photo cookout. Yeah, um, whether in person or virtually, could be either one, doesn't matter. But I would definitely see you at the Photo Cookout in October. I will be speaking, and then we'll get to, you know, see each other again virtually.

Yes, and if y'all haven't, um, joined Tamaya's group, um, the Photo Cookout, I would suggest you, um, if you want to also learn from some different photographers, mostly, um, That group contains a lot of photographers of color, which was important for me because I hadn't seen anybody other than like the Matthew Jordan Smiths, you know, that were successful photographers that look like me, you know. And he's a male, so to even get in that group and see Keisha Lambert and some other female photographers that are on that same level— Tamara Hogan, she was on CreativeLive yesterday. Yeah, exactly. And so I hadn't been exposed to that. So if you're looking to really just step out, and I mean, she has— it's a lot of different ethnicities, I'll just say, in that group too. And so even to hear culturally what it is, to hear culturally what it is, because I know you said there were people from different countries in this group also.

Mm-hmm.

So even to just see the differences in how we do things culturally than other people in, say, other countries. It's a nice experience to learn from other people. Like what you said, like, oh, I'm not a master of anything. I'm always a student.

Exactly.

So I'm always learning.

Exactly. So I would definitely leave the link. Um, the best place to start is my course in that platform. And then, you know, you go from there. Start with me because you know me by now. You've been listening to me all week long. You know me. And then you can go on to the community to, uh, learn from everyone else. And, um, Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

It's been good. Thank you.

Loving it. I'm loving this. But we're gonna—we don't want to take up too much of people's time. So I'm gonna say bye. But I'm gonna say a few more words to everyone else. Bye. All right.

Thank you, guys.

So that was great, wasn't it? That was great. Oh, so that was a great way to end the week. That was a great way. to almost end the session, right? We have one more day though. I was able— I'm able to let you have one more day, and this day is all for me. Like, I'm, I'm yours, you're mine, and it's all for me. So I understand Saturdays are better. So what we're gonna do is, uh, we'll be in touch on what time of day. Like, typically, um, we've been having this workshop 2 PM Eastern time every day this week. So if you have missed any video from the past week, please watch them because they will be gone on Tuesday. Because what we're going to do is on Tuesday, we are moving over to the paid platform. So if you are ready to literally have your hand being held as you continue to grow and learn and become a better photographer, I will also leave the comments of the enrollment is now open for Photo Made Simple. The course. It is a beta price. You're going to get a founder's price exclusive for you because you have been tuning in all week long, because you have been doing the work with your workbook. This— it does not have to stop. It does not have to stop. You can continue to work, uh, with me through group coaching, with critiques, with image consultation, and even a bonus of social media. Because you already learned on day 3 just basic social media tools, but you can learn, you can have visual learning aspect of more guides that you can download of step-by-steps of how to sign up, of step-by-step of how to even upload and export and edit, but also step-by-step guides that you can download and refer to created exclusively for you to master your camera. So Photos Made Simple, the course, Go to the short link bit.ly/photography101course. Okay, Photography 101 Course, because we're starting from the basics and I'm holding your hand. I'm there for you. I'm holding you accountable and you have access to me for $197 until Tuesday, because after Tuesday the price is going up. After Tuesday the price is going up. All the way up. All right, so it's the— this is for you if you are going to continue to do the work. If you don't want to go to YouTube University, if you don't want to, um, have— if you, if you've been bit— you're a busy person, so you have access to the courses for a lifetime, even as we change, even as we improve, even as, um, the more suggestions come in, the more students come in. You're always going to have access to the course for $197 US. You have until Tuesday to pay. There are also some payment plans. You'll see that on the website though. There are some payment plans because I do understand that it's very hard, um, today and, and going on right now. But you don't want to miss this opportunity to invest in yourself, okay? Because you deserve to get the life that you want to live, the creative life that you've always had in mind since you were a young child, okay? You deserve that. All right, so tomorrow is Saturday. We will come in, um, any questions that you have, um, about your device, about lighting, about editing, about the course sign-up, any of your burning questions, any questions that you are on the verge— if you're on the verge of joining but you feel like I have one question I want to ask you, Saturday is the day. Okay, we're gonna have A live face-to-face meetup. I get to meet you, you get to meet me, and it's a live Q&A. All right, um, that's it for today. I don't want to take up much of your time because I do want you to make sure that you are able to watch this replay if you need to, to go back and get some gems and take some notes. And also definitely go back to the other video before they disappear on Tuesday. Okay, so otherwise I will see you in the group. Continue to leave— go to the units, leave your takeaways. You leave the favorite part that you've learned from today's session, because I, I can give a list of so many that I remember. Oh my goodness, this was a great session. But yeah, I will see you tomorrow, and I will see you every day in this group either way until Tuesday. Thank you, thank you, thank you for investing in yourself.