Orion Photo Group Success Story Podcast
Orion Photo Group Success Story Podcast
Exploring Cultural Influence and Emerging Trends in Wedding Photography with Sarah Robinson
Ever wondered how religious beliefs, budget constraints, and societal values could influence a profession? Our guest, Sarah Robinson, a talented wedding photographer based in Salt Lake City, sheds light on how these factors shape her work. Sarah's journey from Phoenix to Salt Lake City introduced her to unique professional challenges including catering to a strong religious community, dealing with shorter engagement times, and adjusting to limited budgets. She educates us on the city's culture of frugality and self-reliance, and how these elements have influenced her approach towards delivering exceptional photography services.
Furthermore, Sarah takes us behind the lens, sharing her experiences as an art school student and the significance of critiques as a learning tool. We explore the emerging trends in the realm of photography, such as the role of artificial intelligence in product shoots, and the growing trend of User Generated Content videos for commercial shoots. Alongside, Sarah introduces us to her podcast, The Creative Lab, which she co-hosts with Whitney Finneff, where they dissect all things photography and creativity. Tune in for a hearty conversation filled with captivating personal anecdotes and valuable insights into the dynamic world of photography.
Howdy, thanks for tuning into Orion Photo Group's exclusive podcast. For each episode, we're going to dive into the lives of OPG's photographers and videographers across the country. We're going to talk, shop, hear their stories and listen to any advice they want to offer us up. So grab a tasty beverage and settle in for some fun conversations featuring our little community that's you. Let's go.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:So I start these episodes by counting down by five and always have a problem with my fingers. Anyway welcome to this episode of Success Stories. I hope you guys are doing well out there. Not sure when we're going to launch this episode, but it's warming up here, summertime here in St Louis, and I am joined today by a fabulous photographer, sarah Robinson from Salt Lake City. Sarah, say hello.
Speaker 2:Hey, it is also warming up here in Salt Lake, finally. It was a long, long winter here in Salt Lake. If anyone is listening from Salt Lake, you know what I mean. It was raining like well, not raining snowing end of April, beginning of May, and I looked out my window and I was so upset. I was like I've had enough skiing I'm just done ready for the summer. It's finally starting to feel like summer, so I'm so happy about that.
Speaker 1:Now are you from Salt Lake City originally.
Speaker 2:I'm originally from Phoenix, so I was really upset. Yeah, I bet, I really love the winters in Phoenix, not so much the winters in Salt Lake.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and then you know I don't know a ton about Salt Lake City. I've never really spent any time there other than flying through on Delta. That's the only time I've spent any time in Salt Lake City.
Speaker 2:The only thing Salt Lake is known for and that's one of them is the Delta Hub.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's a good airport to fly through. Many times when I'm flying from St Louis to the West Coast I'll wind up going through there. But so from what I understand about Salt Lake is that you do get a lot of snow and lots of winter sports and stuff can be done there. But also from what I understand, it's very beautiful. It snows for a long period of time and the sun comes out and you can kind of get outside, but it doesn't get super cold, or am I wrong in that sense?
Speaker 2:It gets. It doesn't get in the negatives very often, but the inversion so like. Since there's mountains on both sides, all of the pollution gets trapped in A phenomenon known as like the inversion, and it's actually pretty terrible. This past winter the air quality was as bad as like Beijing, or worse than Beijing a few days.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Just because of all of the pollution getting trapped with the cold air and the hot air, like trapping it in. I don't not really a scientist, but I just know it was bad. You can see the sun, so yeah, as bad as Beijing.
Speaker 1:That's pretty bad.
Speaker 2:I am so sorry about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, and I've been in Beijing and Shanghai when smog was really bad, and that's pretty bad. So, all right, well, that's global warming for you. Anyway, this episode's about you. We don't know each other very well, and I wanted to interview some people from the Salt Lake City area because it's a new market for us, and you're one of, I think, about a half a dozen photographers that we have there, and we're really excited to open up that new market, and I just thought it would be interesting to find a little bit about the Salt Lake City market. But before we actually let's start there and then we'll talk about you a little bit more, tell me, as far as you know, what makes the Salt Lake City market unique or different than any other city.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the Salt Lake City bridal market particularly. We have a lot of younger brides, younger couples, who get married and they want to. They have a very short engagement time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, in addition, not a lot of budget and so that's always kind of a unique challenge is, especially as a photographer, that tends to be at the bottom of what people are wanting to spend money on, especially when there's a shorter engagement or a lower budget and because of, like, the strong religious population here, a lot of people don't really well, it's starting to get. It is starting to shift a little bit. Where people are wanting to pay more for a venue now. But that's been interesting to navigate is trying to show the client the value that you bring to a table as a photographer.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And that they want to capture this really important day and you want to have these memories preserved forever. So that's been interesting. In addition to that, there is also in Salt Lake, particularly just in general, not necessarily only in the bridal market there is a very big sentiment of like you want to get a bargain and like self-reliance is very big. It's just in general. Self-reliance is a very big, important I can't remember the word for it, not a standard, but just a value.
Speaker 2:Like self-reliance is a very strong value here in Utah, and with self-reliance comes wanting to. We're just going to cut this out. I can't remember what.
Speaker 1:So couples are looking for a bargain or the best deal that they could possibly get. They need to feel, when they walk away from signing with you, that they have gotten the best deal possible and that self-reliance. As a young person, this is probably one of the first tasks as a young couple to seek this out. And exactly what you're saying is are things that I've heard from other photographers that I've known who work in Salt Lake and, yes, being a big LDS community, it also can be very insular. So once you kind of get yourself into a community known for that bargain, you can do very well for yourself, as long as they feel like they're walking away with that bargain. Does that kind of encapsulate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but even if the couple isn't LDS, like I've found, personally I myself am not LDS but, I, have found that those values are still there.
Speaker 2:I mean the state was founded by LDS people, and so it's really been interesting to see how those values stick with the people who live here, even if they aren't LDS or aren't LDS anymore. The value of self-reliance and finding a good bargain and just wanting to get the best deal possible is still so strong with the community here. Specifically, like you were saying how this is the first time that younger people have kind of had to make a bigger purchase with a wedding it's interesting how photography fits into that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll agree with that. But on the flip side, being younger people, I have also found that they're very, very much engaged in getting great pictures and spending time getting great pictures if you're willing to give them the time. And that's being originally from the East Coast, so being from New York, that was one thing that I always kind of. And you have beautiful, beautiful places to go and photograph there. I was always a little jealous of the amount of time and the aspects of the lengths that you would go to for good shoots was also there too, but of course you're giving away a lot of free time to get to and from those places and take lots of pictures. I do have a question for you on the LDS side, so not being part of that community what have been your challenges of dealing with that as a photographer, not being in the community, or has there been any?
Speaker 2:So I used to be LDS. I actually even went to BYU and that's where I got my degree in design and in photography. Okay, I don't know, it has been interesting. I feel like in my experience sometimes it's a little bit harder to break into that clientele. But also there's plenty of clientele here who is not looking for that experience Specifically, the LGBTQ community here is definitely not. They're looking for people who celebrate them and welcome them, and there's plenty of LDS photographers who do celebrate and welcome them. But I've found in my experience they tend to lean more towards people who have that on their website or have a little bit more diverse of a portfolio on their website.
Speaker 1:Sure, yeah, and that totally makes sense. I know that the LGBTQ community out there is growing, which is a nice thing to hear about and see, and kind of getting started in that community is a will be a good thing for your career, your younger person. So celebrating that is great. I'm glad to hear that. All right, cool. So let's talk about your start. So you kind of hinted at it I always love to hear about. So my first question that I always ask is and what was the spark? What made you become a photographer? Where did that come from?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I started in photography in high school. I shot a lot of families and then I shot a few weddings in high school and then early on in college I continued to shoot weddings and then I got really burnt out of weddings and switched over to commercial.
Speaker 1:I see that on your website, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I actually do a lot of commercial work now too, and till just recently I started switching back over to weddings and taking like the art direction and a lot of the styling that I really enjoy with commercial into weddings.
Speaker 2:And I think the difference is now is that I've grown a lot and matured a lot and realized that I can say no when it comes to clients and be a lot more picky with who I take on as a photographer, and that has been a lot more empowering to me because I would shoot weddings before I would get so burnt out.
Speaker 2:I feel like I don't know if it's like this in other industries, but particularly in my experience in the Utah industry or in, yeah, just in the Utah industry, I feel like I sometimes have to present as a very like peppy extroverted photographer and that is maybe just not. Well, not maybe. That is just not me at all. I tend to be a little bit more laid back. I can direct people if I need to for family photos, but I tend to be a lot more of a documentary type style on the wedding day and direct maybe the bride and groom a little bit to get some nice artistic shots and then step back and just being able to have that confidence in myself and my ability now to photograph and direct, versus feeling like I needed to show up as a different photographer than the person who I actually am, has really changed the game for me as a wedding photographer and I've started to enjoy it more again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I often introvert introverted people and I'm assuming that's what you're saying Introverted people are great, make great photographers and artists because they take so much in, but when they have to interact with a lot of people, I'm not. I'm a complete opposite. I mean, I have a huge extrovert and I have no issues with being in large crowds of people and asserting myself and stuff like that, which is a different set of challenges as a wedding photographer as well, because it's always my challenge to not be too overbearing during a wedding day.
Speaker 1:But at the same time I have no. But quite often what I find with introverts is they get burned out on weddings because that day of talking and being in front is exhausting and you need a lot of time to charge up. So during a busy wedding season that bank, that tank, can get really empty. So I totally understand where you're coming from, that and I think the more you do it, the better you'll get at managing that tank. But I mean, even as an extrovert, you get burned out. As a wedding photographer you need to do different things, but you're one of the few people not a lot of people go to art school or photography school as a wedding photographer. Many people stumble into it. So I wanna ask you about your experience about going to college for art and kind of how that shaped you, and I always ask would you do it again? Would you pay for art school again?
Speaker 2:So I didn't go to art school to be a wedding photographer at all. I went to art school. Just I don't know. I kind of I sit back and I wonder why I went to art school. Sometimes I felt like I needed a college degree and a lot of times when I was in high school I felt like art was kind of the only thing that. I was good at, which is kind of like the sad truth of it.
Speaker 1:It's nothing sad about that.
Speaker 2:But I would I go back and do it all again. I yeah, I enjoyed my time at art school and I learned a lot of things. That really helped me. Now I enjoy teaching. I went back and taught for a little bit I was an adjunct and I know that I really enjoy that. And I also think art school really helped me be comfortable in getting criticism from other professionals and yeah, that is something that I've noticed has.
Speaker 2:let me rephrase this I would go back to art school again because it has really helped me get comfortable with receiving criticism from other professionals.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that is something that is really important if you want to grow in any industry, and I don't think I could have learned that just on my own as easily.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's probably one of the most valuable things about going to art school is attending those critique sessions, getting feedback from professionals and your professors, and learning how to take brutal criticism is not something that many of us sit in on these days. That's why I always really push people to join after they leave art school or haven't gone to art school to enter print competitions or any kind of photography competitions where there's feedback that you can get any kind of feedback that you can get and then being able to accept that feedback. The more you do it, the better you get at it, and then it makes you a better photographer because you're just pointing out all the things. Quite often in the beginning they're pointing out things that is so completely obvious and you're like why did I submit that photo in the first place?
Speaker 1:And then you get better at retaking your own images before you actually submit, and that's where I think the real growing process happens. In that sense, beyond wedding photography, I see that you do some commercial work. Can you talk a little bit about the things that you offer and what you've been up to and stuff like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have been taking a little break, but I'm getting back into it. I offer product photography and lifestyle photography. I primarily focus on food and beverage, as well as beauty, and I also am learning about. I'm taking a few digital marketing courses, so I'm looking for a currently. I've been looking for an in-house position for the past eight months now, so if anyone out there is hiring, let me know.
Speaker 1:You hear that people yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but I am really interested in more of digital marketing and things like that. I would love to marry my love of design and content creation with the analytics of marketing. I've done that for a few of my retainer clients so far and I would love to do that in-house for a company.
Speaker 1:And I think when I was listening to you also do a podcast which I want to talk about. When you talked about that a little bit or spoke you were talking about it with I think you were doing it with another person and you know. So. One of my questions to you on the commercial side, especially with product photography I've spent an extensive amount of time doing product and fashion photography many, many years ago. With so much advancement in AI, I think that product photography is going to become much easier in a lot of senses and I'm just curious you know where you find, you know it's really growing in that area. Have you experimented with that at all?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have experimented with like feeding AI, prompts and things like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it's really interesting, but I'm going to be honest, I don't have enough knowledge to have like a good opinion on it right now. But what I do know is that it's really interesting and I think if you are too scared, if you're a product photographer and you're freaked out about it, you should probably just learn about it, which is what I'm doing right now.
Speaker 1:And because if you just get freaked out and you're scared, then Well, you just get frozen in time and you're not going to do anything. You're going to get frozen and that's fine.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you want to be frozen, that's your choice. But just learning about it and learning how to use new tools, they're nothing but new tools.
Speaker 1:So Cool and as far as and I do think that the world of being able to create content and social media for companies, alongside of product photography, I think that's going to be the biggest growing sector for people like yourself. I'm an old man and I had a promised my teenage daughter I would never post on TikTok. I think the growing aspect of that. I love to hear your thoughts on that and anything interesting that you're seeing with that or any trends or what not with TikTok, tiktok or creating content for clients and things like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, something that a lot of my clients have liked is UGC video.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I will say I'll be on like a commercial shoot and I started adding it initially is like just a fun little add on, but a lot more clients have been asking for it. As like, I started adding it as a fun little like look, I just captured these. I already had the setup and then I just moved it over to some natural light, had the models use their hands as quick little UGC video and then I started offering that. As you know, I can't even remember how much, but right, just an add on to what you're doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah and that has been really helpful and well, not really helpful. That has been really successful and adding just a little bit extra to the shoe.
Speaker 1:That's fairly simple for you, right, which, but? But I mean the, I mean huge value add To, to you know, a commercial shoot is being able to create all that content that you're doing at the same time. That has to be huge. Okay, cool, talk to me about your podcast a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my podcast that I do with my co-host, whitney Finneff. She's also a commercial and product photographer. She focuses a lot on beauty and she also went to school with me and she's also no longer LBS, so it's kind of fun. We have a podcast called the creative lab and we talk about all things photography and creative. It's called the creative lab. We named it that because if you've ever done like any type of lab class at art school, the lab portion of the class just becomes anyone in that class Like knows anything. That's going on with your life Typically and I don't know if you did you go to art school.
Speaker 1:I did. Yeah, I'm laughing because I. It was many, many years ago for me, but the lab was the place.
Speaker 2:The lab was the place. I was the photo lab manager and so. I knew everyone in the in the degree it was. It was just kind of funny and so that's why we named it. The creative lab was just because we wanted to kind of create that same environment where we just talk about, you know, things that are going on, things to have to do with, you know, creative entrepreneurship or motherhood my co-host is a mother and you know just how those things go together.
Speaker 1:That's. That's all I have. My first impression was that that is a great name because, you know, for creative people, and I have very fond memories of Thursday, friday, even Saturdays in the lab and the dark room, and it was New York in the 90s. So we smoke cigarettes and drink a little bit too. So it was a little, probably a little different than your lab, but the same aspect was there, I'm sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but one of my favorite memories. One of my favorite memories is for finals. Everyone had to be there late, you know, and the buildings were closing and so we're like let's try and black out the door. You can't see us. And if any of like my own professors, they aren't listening to this guaranteed. But like we would like put cardboard, the black mat board, up against it, so like if you shine a flashlight through, they wouldn't see it. So funny.
Speaker 1:That's. That's funny. Yeah, and I'm sure that the security guard it wasn't it wasn't the first time that the security guard? No, we definitely. That's funny, cool. Well, let's talk about your. So you joined OPG. I think it's mainly only been six months and I'm not sure have you shot any weddings for us at this point yet.
Speaker 2:No, I haven't, because there hasn't been any. Okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:We're still getting off the grats. I was curious what your experience was with us. Don't worry, it's coming and there will be. There will be some, some weddings and hopefully we can get. I looked at your portfolio. You do great work. Definitely looks like you lean towards and I'm just going to get in front of me here, so it was definitely a question I wanted to ask you. I mean towards natural light and tons and tons of outdoor stuff. So any advice to those of people shooting available light outdoor weddings in Salt Lake City.
Speaker 2:I would also get comfortable with artificial light, because in Salt Lake City I don't think I have a lot of artificial light on my portfolio, specifically with OPG.
Speaker 2:But, in Salt Lake City, the lighting can change with the drop of a hat, especially because the weather can change with the drop of a hat, and my best advice would just be to get more comfortable with artificial light. That is another thing that art school taught me. But you don't need to go to art school to figure that out. You can buy a course you can do, just practice with it.
Speaker 2:That's the best way to figure it out, because you don't want to be caught in a situation where, all of the sudden, you don't know how to operate your camera in a way to get a good photo, because the cloud moved.
Speaker 1:So that would be my suggestion. That's great advice, cool, all right. Last question for you. I see you've recently taken up gardening and baking. What's your favorite thing to bake?
Speaker 2:My favorite thing to bake. It's basic, but sourdough bread and my Dutch oven.
Speaker 1:All right, is that pandemic?
Speaker 2:No, actually just recently. I didn't start it during the pandemic, probably should have, but just recently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I was the only person that didn't try baking bread during the pandemic. Anyway, cool. Well, it's good to get to know you a little bit better. Thank you for sharing your stories with us. Welcome to the St Louis, st Louis, salt Lake City Market. Hopefully you'll start seeing some weddings for this summer soon. Actually, I have to do it with another. What is the season wise Like? What is the high season? Is it normal summer, or is it later or earlier?
Speaker 2:It's normally summer and sometimes in the fall, because the leaves here are nothing like Midwest but, they're pretty nice.
Speaker 1:So Memorial Day to Labor Day is pretty much high season. Cool, all right. Well, thank you for being on this episode of some success stories. Good luck with the podcast. We're going to put a link to it in the show notes. Make sure you guys out there give them some love and take a listen to it. The creative lab, and we'll catch you soon. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Sweet. Thank you so much, jason.
Speaker 1:All right, that'll do it for this episode featuring OPG's best of the best. Would you like to be featured in an upcoming episode or do you have a suggestion for somebody you'd like to hear from in our little community? Please email me jgroupwith2psatorionphotogroupcom. That's jgroupatorionphotogroupcom. I look forward to hearing from you and hearing your suggestions. We hope that you enjoyed this episode and I look forward to hearing from you and your story. That's it for now. We'll see you on the next episode. Have a great day.
