Orion Photo Group Success Story Podcast
Orion Photo Group Success Story Podcast
Behind the Lens with Christine Semmler - Tales of Photography and Perseverance
Wondering how photographers capture life's moments? Christine Semmler, of Orion Photo Group, shares tales from the wedding front lines and navigating peak seasons alongside personal upheavals like moving. Spring blossoms and autumn leaves set the scene for Detroit's weddings, as we discuss adapting to shifts while I share my marathon training journey.
Exploring photography's growth, we uncover gems from weddings and unique gigs like photographing leisurely horses. Our combined industry experience shapes not just our images, but our client relationships. Join us for lighting tips and mentor acknowledgments.
Calling all creatives to share triumphs and hacks. Passion and authenticity are key in photography—etch your mark and let's celebrate in our next gathering.
Howdy, thanks for tuning in to Orion Photo Group's exclusive podcast. For each episode, we're going to dive into the lives of OPGs, 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, all right, we're recording. All right, here we go.
Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode of Success Stories with the Orion Photo Group OPG, as we like to call it, the Orion Photo Group and I am here today with another success story. I'm here with Christine Semler. Did I say your name right? Absolutely, all right, cool, I haven't done one of these in hot minutes, that's for sure, and hot would be the optimal word. I am preparing for my first marathon in about a week and a half and I am so tired of running and being sore and everything else. And now, with the pollen and everything else, I'm a mess. So thankfully you can't see me out there today, but I'm stoked to have you here and, christine, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Oh, thanks. Have you booked your post-race massage yet? That's the best part of doing a marathon.
Speaker 1:You know my wife has. And fun fact about me I can't do the massages because I'm too ticklish and I can't do it.
Speaker 2:No, okay, then you have to find some kind of place to spit or soak or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I usually do a hot shower and I have a massage gun and I usually use that on my legs and it's my best friend after a run. It's usually in the car immediately after, and that thing is my best friend for the next three or four hours. I've never run a full marathon before and um it, uh, I've done tons of halves, but uh, the distance is really long. I don't know if you've ever done anything like that I was gonna say that the full is a.
Speaker 2:It's a life-changing experience. You will get to join the club and we'll see if you'd like to do another one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know the way I'm feeling right now. I'm going to be happy to join the 1% club. As they say. Only 1% of the people on the planet have ever run a full marathon, but I think I might stick to halves after this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely the only 1% I'll ever be part of. Just loving. That's a good thing to know. I'm a 1%. I'll ever be part of Just loving. That's a good thing to know. I'm a 1%-er. Thank you Like great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that's a fun fact. A friend of mine told me about a while back, but we're not here to talk about me. We could talk about me forever, but we're not here to talk about me. Christine, I had a chance to, so we've never met before other than the three minutes before this phone call. And, uh, that's one of the things that I love about doing these is it helps me get to know some of the photographers out there, and I love meeting new photographers and, um, I love hearing their stories. So, um, I looked up your website before and and and. Unless there's another, christine sammler, uh, you are in gross gross point, michigan, is that right?
Speaker 2:uh, until the end of this month. I just bought my first house in chelsea, michigan, so I'm moving away a little bit. It's very exciting, but it's also probably one of the weirdest experiences. I've ever had to be so unsettled and live in three homes at one time and it's. It's crazy, but good stuff is happening in 24.
Speaker 1:Nice. Well, that's moving houses is the most exciting and horrible things you'll ever do, especially if you've been living in a home for a long time. Yeah, it's, especially if you've been living in a home for a long time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm very grateful that we have the place we live now because we're doing major construction. We bought this house thinking it was not going to be any project and now it's. Every inch of every room needs something. There's water damage. Our foundation is crumbling Nobody told us so. Anyway. Photography I'll talk about that, all right, moving on, moving on. Yeah, um, so this is an interview well, no, I mean, I think it's.
Speaker 1:I think it's also really important that you know some of the things that I think are relevant. Is it's, uh, coming into the middle of april, as we go into wedding season, you're going to be packing boxes and your life is completely upended and that's not an easy thing to be doing right now. So my heart is with you as you get into the wedding season, and I would imagine in your part of the world that the wedding season is probably pretty short too right in your part of the world that the wedding season is probably pretty short too, right as the weather changes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting because we used to have pretty consistent through the whole summer and I feel like people are really focusing on the spring and the fall seasons and in the last couple of years I've gotten quite a few winter weddings. I mean, people love that decorated church for Christmas. So it's nice to have kind of a light July, but we are really spring and fall heavy in Detroit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean for obvious reasons with the amount of snow that you guys get there. So but then again on. On the other hand, you're probably pretty used to that weather, so oh yeah what's it? Yeah, so how does that from a business perspective for you not opg? How does that affect you moving from gross point to chelsea? I don't know the distance- um.
Speaker 2:We're about 50 miles apart.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:So it's. The thing is is I feel like I joined the photography game late, so everybody who was established in the Detroit, the Metro Detroit area, was already there. So I have always had to travel for my jobs. I was always on the outer rings of Metro Detroit and going up into the middle parts of the state and I'm totally accustomed to the drive. I have listened to some very great audio books to keep me calm on the way into and away from weddings and I am excited for this adventure. I'm excited for a new photo community.
Speaker 2:It's a very small town feel so in my personal business that's not, you know, wedding related I think it's going to be fun to maybe try to get into dance studios or I used to be a figure skater, so there's a nice rink. Maybe I'll try to kind of do some photography there. It's a fun adventure to be forced into.
Speaker 1:It's very exciting to it's it's very exciting. Well, and that that is exciting, and and one of the things that I've noticed from over the years and being doing it for many years, is that when you follow your interests in photography, it's it. It makes things a lot easier, especially when you have access. You said you were an ice skater, so you probably have access to some people that you know and places that you could offer photography to. I have teenage kids now that both play sports, so I'm doing a lot of their sports photography. It's funny.
Speaker 1:This spring I set up a lot of automations on my website so people could book sessions right on my website, and I didn't really think about it too much. And then, lo and behold, like five senior moms booked me for sessions. Because you know why, wait till the last minute, middle of April. I've never met them before. And finally I had to chase one down who gave me the wrong email address and was like, hey, your session is this weekend. Do you want to talk about it? I mean, they just they booked it. They're just, you know, on, but following those things, that that you know is super duper helpful. So, um, well, so let's go back to our origin story. You said that you, uh um, you started late in photography, so you must have been doing something before to get into photography. I love these stories.
Speaker 2:So I, um, was the dork at the college party who had a full frame camera with me all the time, and after college I couldn't get into my field of study. So I became a flight attendant, always had a camera through that and I came home and was shooting someone's Christmas card just a local lady and she said you know, you should get paid to do this. And I was like you can't make money being a photographer because everybody has a camera in their pocket now. And she wrote me a check for $50. And I took that to start my LLC and I haven't looked back since. That's a great story. I love that story. It's a crazy ride, yeah, and how many years has been now? Oh, is this? It's only year eight.
Speaker 1:That's a good. That's a good time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's just funny Cause I remember I started and in my second year, went to a workshop and I love this man that I did the workshop from and he was like, yeah, it's my seventh year of wedding photography and I think I'm like almost done and I just feel like it's every day I'm still learning. I mean, I just went on a vacation and took my camera out and got to do photos that I don't ever get to do as photos of horses, and it was just so fun to finally feel like I want to take this picture. I'm going to make the things in my brain happen. And then all of these photos turned out and I think it's because of the years of pressure of having to do all of these settings and everything on the go during weddings. I mean it. It was very cool to sit down and look at those photos yesterday and have a high success rate of something that I don't shoot very often.
Speaker 2:So it was it's been really fun to grow continuously and to still feel like I'm growing and and still be so interested in it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it is nice when you start to feel some of that stuff come together. And I do think that it takes several years to get to that point. So, especially with no formal training and although I don't think anybody goes to college for photography anymore, they go for communications or something else where photography is kind of worked into that so, eight years into doing it, when did you start shooting for opg?
Speaker 2:five years ago five years ago yeah and what was the uh?
Speaker 2:talk about that story a little bit so it was actually, if you're a detroiter, um, it was rob hall. Rob hall worked for a couple of companies and he was like listen, if you really love weddings and it was probably at the same workshop where you know he told me some other stuff it was. He said you know, you should look into these companies, you should look into these studios that shoot weddings. You really get to get your feet wet, you get a lot of exposure and then you can branch off and and go do your own thing. And so when I got hired with OPG, I had shot 12 weddings total.
Speaker 2:And it was like yep, I'm in love and you guys were gracious enough to let me come on board and be a lead photographer and I now I think I'm the biggest cheerleader for OPG because it was such a good experience and it still is. I mean, I get to go to all kinds of venues and then when I get approached for, you know, weddings outside of OPG I can say, yes, I've been there, yes, I've shot there a bunch of times, because I, opg has opened so many doors for me. I, I mean it's, and I've met so many people and so many good, you know, network vendors, videographers, people that I wouldn't have done otherwise. And it's, you know, sometimes people look at me and go how can you shoot two to three weddings a weekend? And it's like, well, I have a great team behind me. You know it's it.
Speaker 2:It's been so easy to continuously reimagine the wedding photography business because I have the time to think about that. I'm not answering the emails, I'm not doing the editing, I'm not suffering behind my computer all the time. I do get free time to to plan and do fun things at weddings. I don't know it's, it's been so good for me, it's a perfect fit fun things at weddings.
Speaker 1:I don't know it's it's been so good for me, it's a perfect fit, and I love that story and that is a common theme with a lot of OPG photographers, and I do think that there's something to be said for the more weddings you shoot, the more experiences you have, the more well-rounded you are, and it's not even from a photography perspective, it's learning how to deal with different situations, different lighting events, different events, different cultures, which I think is a big thing that a lot of OPG photographers get to do. You know, and not to stereotype, but, like you know, I was a jewish guy in new york. I shot tons of jewish weddings, but whenever I got to shoot, you know different cultures. It was really great experience for me and those people may may or may not have, you know, um, hired me and you know I wind up branching out into a lot of different things. I wind up shooting a lot of south asian, southeast asian weddings and all you have to do is do one and then, you know, friends get to know I wind up branching out into a lot of different things. I wind up shooting a lot of Southeast Asian weddings and all you have to do is do one and then you know friends get to know you and they book you and things like that. But having stuff in your portfolio to be able to show them when there's a friend at the wedding that comes up to you and have you ever shot this kind of wedding or that kind of wedding, that well-rounded experience really goes a long way.
Speaker 1:And I do have to say the Detroit photography community is really great and I know a lot of photographers in that area and every and and and. You know I've, I've nothing, but you know amazing things about almost any Detroit photographer that I've ever, ever met and I don't know what it is about that community, but it continues and this is going back 15, 20 years Now. It's not just, nor you know, these days, but there's, there are some great people there and I've shot a few weddings there and always had a really great experience as well. Um, so, eight years into it, I'm looking at some of your work. Um, you know I I'm impressed by your lighting style. Looks like you've got a really good grasp on lighting and things like that. Was there any things that you did to help you with those things when you were first getting started?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, lighting. When I started because I did not like the way a flash photo looked from you know the little box cameras, the point and shoot, the instant develop, those things and it was just like I hate the way this looks. I'm going to be a natural light photographer and that first year again, rob Hall, hi he. He was like you can't shoot weddings without light, like receptions happen. You have to do this. So I went to three ish workshops and I joined groups Like I joined the go docs flash group and and just looked at other people's work.
Speaker 2:And then literally I bought a styrofoam head, I put it on my C stand stand and I probably spent two weeks moving an umbrella around by an inch and then I would take the umbrella off and I would put the you know mag mod boob on my flash and then I would put a 48 inch soft box and I would move it around and I would move it back and forth and and was just and took notes, copious notes that are the same thing and I still have them. I laugh at them now because it was just like I moved it two inches. Why did the shadow do that? Why did the triangle on the face get bigger, like shouldn't it have gotten smaller? And it was just.
Speaker 2:I am a hands onon learner and I still am, and I still have to go have someone show me how to do a lay flat and I have no problem asking questions, like it's I still. I mean at the beginning, at the end, right now. It's a never ending process of learning. I also do 52 frames, which is a great free photography project that you can participate in and you get a little bit of feedback, and I'm finding that getting good feedback is hard these days, you know.
Speaker 1:It is. It is uh, you know, I still think there's a great community out there, there's still great places to learn and, you know, with so many places to learn online, it's definitely. You know, the amount of opportunities are definitely less than there used to be. I'm a big believer in hands-on touching things, learning things from. You know, you watch a YouTube video and it's like, hey, you put your Godox here and you put your flash over here and everything's going to work great.
Speaker 1:Well, guess what? You get out there and you got a client in front of you and it doesn't work great, right. And then what do you do? I mean, you know, and then, in 30 years later, you know, I was shooting some lacrosse pictures on last week and nothing was working and I fumbled my way through the entire shoot and I got it and I spent so many hours fixing my crappy pictures. I'm still so mad at myself for it. But even 30 years later, but without the experience of it, I don't even know if I would have had any good pictures, because I put myself in a really bad lighting situation and it is what it is. So, you know, you figure it out, and they don't judge you on how good you are. When they're standing there right, they judge you on how fast you are. I always say that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and that's the frustrating part is you think, after a certain amount of time, or after being in that specific location a certain number of times, I got this on lock. And then it's just like you have those days where nothing connects, it doesn't meet up, you think, and like I stand there and I know that my mouth is open and I'm staring at the back of my camera, going I've done this before and I've done it excellently. Today is not that day. It's like OK, stop, just try something else. I really like, especially in dark churches. I think that I can do that with one foot tied behind my back and my eyes closed. And there's just some days where it's like this isn't working, this isn't working, what have I done wrong? And I have to just kind of scramble the settings and start over. And it's just so fun to again have the experience, to be able to go okay, this isn't working, let's fix it.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, and getting back to that experience is so important. So shooting with OPG, yeah. What would be your advice? If you're somebody that's listening to this. You're thinking about joining? What would be your advice about getting started with us?
Speaker 2:Oh, about getting started with OPG. There's so many benefits to working the practice that you get to get Again getting into the venues, meeting vendors, making your personal network grow by working with new second shooters or leads or videographers. It's such a good experience to do for a couple of years, do for 20 weddings, do for you know and see if you fall in love with it and then just always have it in your pocket. Because if you get busy and you grow out of OPG, that's so great. We're so glad to have helped you along the way. Should spend some time working at a studio that exposes you to so many things, like the cultures, like the locations, like you know the stress of shooting two in a row it's. It's such a good experience for any photographer. You don't have to just be starting. You can be 15 years into this and learn so much from OPG.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's, that's one of the things you know.
Speaker 1:when I started my career, I started shooting weddings when I was like 15 years old and um, literally, like, I shot my first wedding when I was a junior in high school um, by myself, but um. So I literally grew up with photography but I started shooting for a local wedding photographer who I was was got very close with over the years and as I grew, my photography business and I went to college for photography and then, you know, would shoot weddings on the weekend. So, like you know, I used to always joke that, like they would my, my, my art school friends would always be like, well, jason's got money because he makes boatloads of cash shooting weddings on the weekends. And back then weddings were like passe, like there was like the, the not very creative people did not admire wedding photographers, but I always did it because it was. I made so much more money than flipping hamburgers like my friends, so, you know, but it was always there for me. So, like, as I grew in photography, it was a larger studio.
Speaker 1:They had about 20 photographers that shot for them locally and each year he would call me in the spring. He'd say, you know, he'd call me in like February and be like how many weddings do you want this year? And I would say, load me up, I don't have any work this year. I've got plenty of time and that would get me through that season as I was working on my portfolio. I was doing commercial work and fashion stuff at that time and it just stayed with me. I stayed.
Speaker 1:I worked with him for 15 years after that and having that security to know that I could keep working on something that I love and building my business and OPG is very supportive of that. And knowing that, and the people like Michael and some of the other people at OPG I know you spoke to him a couple of weeks ago and you know having that ability to go back and forth from it and you know I think everyone's goal in the end is to shoot enough weddings that you're not shooting for OPG but be able to fill up your schedule and having that security of knowing that I can always fill up my schedule doing OPG and this is not meant to be a plug for it I think there's a lot of value in doing that. Okay, some other questions for you. You're getting started later. You're not like me, like a teenager starting. You're getting later. What would be your advice as somebody getting into photography now?
Speaker 2:Um, okay, I think that you should again, like you said earlier, follow what you love. You're going to have such a more interesting time and a more successful time shooting the images that you want to shoot, and it's okay if you're not hitting the trends. It's okay if your success rate is very low. I mean, if you're taking 50 photos and three of them turn out but you love them, that counts as a win. I mean that's. Don't be afraid of our image soaked society now and don't listen to every single thing you hear on Instagram or it's. It's just so hard to remain individual, and that thing that keeps popping up on my Instagram is you're the only you. You're the only one taking those pictures. You're the only one doing that. So if you are starting later, congratulations. You've got more life experience than the person who's grown up with that cell phone in their hand. It's a great career. It's a great time to express yourself. People really do want more and more images, and your clients are out there, like our people are somewhere, so just persist.
Speaker 1:I love that. You're right. Your people are out there and nobody can, and nobody can ever be you. So if you're you, nobody can be that person, and and and I think there's a lot to be said for photographers are always interesting personalities and it is our personalities that that they hire us for for that. So you have to be you. You can't try and be something somebody else you know from a sales perspective. When you're talking about sales, there's a lot you can learn from from being a salesperson. Unfortunately that you know we sometimes give away our work um more than than we'd like. But, um, yeah, all right. Uh, I think we're going to wrap things up. Um, I'm trying to think there was one more question. It's like stuck in my head and I can't. I'm trying to think there was one more question. It's like stuck in my head and I can't. I can't remember what it is now. Oh, I guess that's it.
Speaker 2:Any questions for me? No, I, I'm very excited to be able to share my story and get to be part of OPG for more time and charm even more people. Yeah, I loved your response when I asked you, you were like you have to be careful More time and charm even more people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I loved your response. When I asked you, you were like you have to be careful. I'm good. I'm one of the biggest OPG supporters on the planet.
Speaker 2:I love hearing that, yeah, yeah, it's been really a pleasure and I just so enjoy, for, as big as we are, as nationwide as we are, I feel like I know the people in the home office and it's really comforting to know that if something went wrong, those people will have my back Like I. I love it here. I'm so happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and, and I love that, and, and the people in the office also say thank you very much for everything that you do and you know your attitude and your, they, they love you. When I said that I I'm gonna be I'm gonna be doing a podcast with christine. They were like oh you're gonna love her no, she's so obnoxious.
Speaker 2:Every email has a different signature and she never, ever, ever, ever shuts up.
Speaker 1:But yeah it's mostly those four people on the text messages wow, that's our job, fine, um well, thank you again for being on this episode of success stories. Good luck this season. Good luck with the packing. Uh, I'll give you one piece of advice that you're yeah, get a book and keep track of everything that goes in every single box, even if you mark it on the outside of your boxes Big numbers on the side of each box. Just a little book, you know like you can quickly get to, and also something that's kind of sturdy because you're going to go into it a lot, but it is so nice when you're like where is that packing tape and you can go through the book and be like it's in box number 19.
Speaker 2:As we know, I love copious notes.
Speaker 1:So this sounds right up my alley. It was also really helpful for me when we made our move out to the Midwest and our movers lost half of our house.
Speaker 2:No joke, oh Jason, no Half of our house.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So we are transitioning from a house in Ann Arbor, so it's only 10 miles. We'll be doing most of the moving ourselves, so no half losing house. Also, the cameras will just stay in my arms the whole time. They're not getting away from me.
Speaker 1:Move that stuff yourself, and we didn't have that option. I mean, whatever we could put in our car to drive from New York to St Louis, yeah, but yeah. So anyway, good luck with the move, good luck with your wedding season and thank you again.
Speaker 2:Thank you All right.
Speaker 1:That'll do it for this episode of Success Stories. Do you have a story that you want to tell me? I'd love to hear it. If you do, you get a $25 B&H gift card, which won't go very far, but it may be a cover some of the taxes, but as a way to say thank you, we'd love to have you on. Anyway, thanks again for being on this episode of Success Stories. We'll see you on the next episode. Hey, do you have a tip or trick you want to share with us? Please email me, jgroup at orionphotogroupcom. I would love to hear your tips or tricks and we'll even send you a nice little reward for doing so. Until then, thank you.
