The Photographer's Podcast

If I asked you what success really looked like to you, what would you say? If I asked you what really mattered to you, what would you say? If I asked you what your truest dreams were, what would you say? And, more importantly… …would you let yourself say it? Would you? Now, you might be answering, "hmmm I'm not really sure." And that's okay. But what if I told you that, regardless of how far away...

What if I told you that your very own life experiences might be the secret to unlocking a meaningful photography career?  You're probably thinking, what the heck are you talking about, Nicole? My years of being a goofy weird kid? My obsession with my dog? My love for travel? My awkward teenage years? The secret to a meaningful career??!! The answer is… yes. We're often so close to our experiences,...

Photographers, have you ever turned down something that could have been amazing… because you felt a little scared? Maybe you ... ... Said no to an event you were invited to because you thought you wouldn't fit in. ... Didn't sign up for that photography class because you thought you'd fail. …Said no to that shoot opportunity because you were intimidated by the client. If you've ever felt anything...

Photographers, listen up! I've got two questions for ya today... Question number 1: When's the last time you wanted to pursue an amazing & creative idea but never followed through because you felt like you never had enough time? Question number 2: How many hours a day do you spend scrolling social media? It kinda hurts when you think about these two questions side by side, doesn't it? It kinda hur...

What photography niche makes you most excited?! When I was first starting out, I had absolutely no idea where my photography journey would take me, so I tried it all. I explored everything from weddings, engagements, maternity, products, food, events, families, landscapes, headshots and a ton of e-comm... I was even a hand model when I was a photo intern at a major fashion label (NBD lol !). But a...

I never really knew what the word 'mindset' actually meant. That stuff didn't really make sense to me — I thought in order to "get it", I'd have to learn yoga and go meditate in the forest. Until my first year of college where I read a book that changed my life. I realized that mindset was a lot more simple than that… and a heck of a lot more important. I realized that a positive mindset is what t...

I had OPINIONS about the way my life and career were going to go. I was going to move to LA and immediately start booking 5 ... no ...10-figure jobs! I was going to build an empire and somehow also have time to do whatever I wanted. I was going to get married and at justtttttt the right time have no problem starting a family. I was… I was… You can probably get where I'm going with this. My life an...

Do your fam & friends ever act like you've kinda, uh, lost your mind when it comes to photography?! Like, you talk about a lens or the lighting inside a restaurant and you just get a buncha confused polite stares.  It's not even that they're unsupportive but more so that they… just don't get it. To them, photography is just a job. It's a thing you do to make money, to survive, and to live your lif...

Do you know the feeling? The feeling you get when you open your Insta, only to see that a client slapped a filter over a photo you took (and painstakingly edited for hours)… … it's painful to look at, right?! All that hard work down the drain because someone got a little photo-editing-app-happy. I get it, it hurts. And it's happened to me more times than I'd like to admit, but over the years I've...

You know when you love something SO MUCH that you're terrified of messing it up? Same . That was me with photography for a long, long time. I was so passionate and so excited and so honored to do the work I was doing that, well… …I self-sabotaged the heck out of myself. I let fear win. I was terrified that everyone would find out I was a fraud. And I hated all the photoshoots I did. But, guess wha...

If you've felt imposter syndrome as a photographer then you know how terrible it is. It's like you go from this feeling of deep love for what you do, to the worry that you're not good enough to be doing it… …and it's the worst. Over the years, I've felt this time and time and again and I've also watched as my students and fellow photographers have, too. Luckily, though, there are some steps you ca...

Does TSA stress you out? Like, why are we always getting yelled at? And why do I always feel like I'm in trouble? And if you travel with about 900 pounds of camera gear like I do, there's a whole new level of scrutiny. It can feel stressful and overwhelming lugging your precious (and expensive) camera gear across the globe. But over the years I've been lucky enough to have had a lot of practice tr...

I jumped out of bed, grabbed my coffee and sat down at my computer—excited to deliver the images I just spent all night editing. I turned my computer on, took a sip of coffee, and sat there waiting for my hard drive to load… Waiting… Waiting… Waiting… Something was wrong… My hard drive would not load… cue sheer and utter panic It was that morning that my hard drive completely failed, the hard driv...

A true community hasn't always been easy for me to come by. When I was a kid, I worried I wouldn't ever have one. And, among the bullying and the name-calling and the times I ate lunch in the school bathroom a la Mean Girls, I couldn't even let myself imagine it. But when I found photography, that changed for me . Not only did I have a community, I had a purpose. A passion. A joy that I would've n...

I think that we often fold ourselves into squares—corners pressed in tightly. We're afraid of showing up as our full selves, chasing our actual dreams, following our hearts. In fact, we're probably genuinely afraid of knowing who our full selves are a lot of the time. What our dreams could look like. What our hearts are telling us. But guess what, friend? When we fold ourselves up and lean into fe...

If you've ever felt like you weren't "ready" to become a photographer, then you NEED to listen to this episode. Today I'm introducing you to someone SO special, and her name is Cassie Wegeng. Cassie is an incredible lifestyle photographer, AND an alumni from our online course, The Photographer's Path. Cassie focuses on shooing with coastal brands, which means you can find her out shooting surf, sw...

There are few things more exciting than buying a new camera (like hello, a camera store is basically the best place on earth!). But guess what? Sometimes it's just plain unnecessary, too. Yep, I said it. Now, don't get me wrong, having a good camera body is definitely an important (and really fun) part of being a photographer ... but it's not always the thing that is going to improve your image qu...

I've never been a 9-5 job type of girl.  But, regardless of the fact that I'm not a 9-5 gal, I've had many jobs as I was finding my path… ... Jobs that left me unfulfilled. ... Jobs that left me dreading each day. ... Jobs that left me wondering how I ended up here after all. ... Jobs that left me wondering when I'd finally find my purpose. And if you're rockin' the 9-5 lifestyle right now and fee...

Do you ever log into Instagram only to be immediately overwhelmed by the sheer volume of advice? The must do's and the tips telling you what you need to do, what you did wrong, and where you're failing—that you immediately want to log out and rethink your entire life? The internet can make us feel like we're failing at everything … whether it's our diet, our makeup routine, our sleep schedule, or...

I'm so excited for you to meet Photographer's Path Alumni Tonje Lien Wold. Tonje is an incredible active lifestyle photographer from Oslo, Norway. Growing up, Tonje always dreamed of becoming a photographer but most of her life she thought photography would be just tha t— a dream . H owever, in April of 2022 Tonje took that dream and made it a reality. Since then she's traveled to several differen...

What if you could wake up EVERY morning feeling absolutely overjoyed about your life? What if you could stop feeling like you're on autopilot constantly? What if you could actually, truly, feel alive? Aligned? At peace with where you are? It would be pretty amazing right?  Well, You CAN. You really, really can. And, more than anything else — more than the *can* — you deserve to. You deserve a life...

When I was in photography school my teacher told me, "The only way you're ever going to comfortably make money is if you become a wedding photographer." This was something I heard constantly when I was learning photography—that wedding photographers were the only ones who didn't struggle—and that my pipe dream of becoming a fashion photographer was just that… a dream… not realistic . I just rememb...

Picture this: After tons of research, you finally pull the trigger and buy yourself that brand new DSLR that you've been dreaming about, and it feels like your photography dreams are about to come true!! But when you load the images you took you realize they don't look ANYTHING like you had imagined and, what?! , there's not a single blurry background to be seen!  That's exactly what happened to m...

If you've been dreaming about turning 2023 into the year that you pivot toward a career in photography, then I've got some GOOD news for you! Today, one of my absolute favorite people joined me on the podcast… the one and only beauty photographer, Beth Sternbaum. Beth and I met back in 2010 as we were building our careers in the photography industry, but she wasn't always the amazing beauty photog...

What has this year looked like for you? What has it taught you? I f I could show myself a year ago what 2022 was going to look like for me, I'm not sure I'd have wanted to see it. To be honest, it's been hard. One of my hardest ever — and I know I'm not alone in that. But as I've gotten older, I've gotten a lot better at seeing the beauty that, yes, while it was hard, existed. Shone through. Kept...