Intro: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Posers podcast, the place where we skip the fluff. Say the quiet parts out loud and dig into what really matters. This is where photography, psychology, and business collide. I'm Jody, your host, and I'm bringing you my raw takes, hard wins, and a whole lot of unfiltered honesty about what it takes to build a photography business that actually connects and makes money.
So ladies, grab your headphones and get your tits up and your ears open because we are going to build something really incredible together.
Okay. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Posers Podcast, my beautiful posers. I woke up today feeling very sassy and very rosy. I was sitting in my car before I came up to the studio as I do. And I was creating Instagram stories that of course feel like I'm just popping off about whatever random thing is happening in my life at the [00:01:00] moment.
But you've been around the block with me now, and you know me better than that. You know that everything that I do has. Psychology and purpose to it. So it's more accurate to say that I was in my car speaking to my opals, keeping my face and my business at the forefront of their minds, and I was talking about how stoked I am that my middle son has decided to play volleyball.
So now obviously he's my favorite because. I played volleyball my whole entire life, and I played volleyball so much that it was basically my whole entire personality and I hyper fixated on it. I obsessed over it just as I now perseverate on my business. So it is uh, no surprise that, duh, he is now my favorite.
For now. But my SAS was bubbling over and I said something out loud that I wasn't planning on saying in that there's something [00:02:00] that I would consider an epidemic in our industry that needs to stop. And right there on my Instagram story, I was like, you know what? I am marching my little sassy ass straight up the stairs to the studio so that I could get all like.
Podcast slutty for you and make two episodes in one week because I have already recorded on Monday and now here it is on Thursday and I'm going at it again. Of course I did not stomp my feet straight up the stairs. I sat there for a little bit longer and I put up two more slides on my Instagram asking whether or not you guys can guess what this soapbox rant is about to be.
And if you have any other. Epidemics that we need to address. Mostly I'm doing that for engagement and I'm wanting to keep you involved and I'm wanting to hear your opinions on everything because honestly, we need to talk about all of these things that are going on in the industry and we need to take them down with as much.
Fervor as we go after the patriarchy. [00:03:00] Okay. Okay, let's get after it. 'cause I am ready to fucking pop off. Can you tell that this is my Friday and that in the morning I'm going to see my husband and that I am going to be on a plane and I am going to be headed to Cabo for the weekend, so I am fired up. Alright.
I believe. I know that we are getting spoon fed a version of photography that should not exist in our industry. Okay. I was having a conversation with another photographer inside of my dms that started last night, and it kind of bled over into this morning. You know what? Really it started even further.
Back than that. I needed to give you a tiny bit of a backstory because honestly, this has been brewing for a while and I even hinted at it during my talk at Focus and Flourish, but I softened it, I tiptoed around it because this was my first rodeo. I was there speaking on stage for the very first time, and I'm basically [00:04:00] like the tender swindler.
Okay. I have to get you to love me. First before I can make enemies and before those enemies can be coming after me. Okay? But honestly this isn't going to just ruffle feathers. It is going to polarize, and it might even make some of you mad, but me staying quiet, that doesn't help anyone. It doesn't help you grow.
It doesn't help me be a better educator and I need to say this, and I need to say it with my whole entire chest because I truly believe that this is something that is keeping photographers stuck and their bookings inconsistent. And if you hate me for saying it, I'm okay with that. If you wanna listen to this and evaluate your own work and then be like.
Nah. She can kick rocks on that point. I agree to disagree. That's cool too. But in the least, I want this out there so that you can use it as a barometer in your own work to really look at what you are creating and if that's what you really want to create, or if that's what you're [00:05:00] doing to. Fit in and book shoots because you know, that's what Jocelyn Joy Photography down the street is doing.
Oh my God, I just made up Jocelyn Joy photography. I will literally stop breathing if that's a real photography business. I apologize so much in advance. I just wanted to rhyme something with the name. I should have said Jodi Joy. I should have used my own name there. Anyways, me staying quiet doesn't do any favors to an industry full of talented women.
Playing small because they're being taught to value pretty over powerful. All right. I need you to slide into your thick skin, babe, because you are gonna need the extra cushion for the cushion with this episode. You've had 22 episodes to get used to me, but we are cranking this. Bitch up a notch today.
Alright, so let me tell you how this all went down last night. I'm laying on my couch. I am stalking the Instagram accounts of my cult members by cult members, obviously, I mean my mastermind girls because I like to watch how their [00:06:00] businesses move. Before we get going with the Mastermind, I like to understand where they're thriving and where they're flopping and where the brand disconnects and how that is costing them big and also.
Where they are winning and where they are killing it. Alright, so one of these photographers who I adore has been baffling me because in person, she is magnetic, she is hysterical, she is commanding, she is full like Icon Energy and her website literally uses. The word iconic. Her branding screams as if there is going to be bold, there is gonna be icons, there is going to be confidence, and it's gonna be unforgettable.
But then I looked at her Instagram feed and I was like ma'am, where is the work? Because what she was showing. Wasn't that it was good, but it wasn't that it wasn't aligned with the voice, the power, or the [00:07:00] pricing that she's capable of commanding. So fast forward a little bit and I am inside of her email sequences.
I have signed up for her newsletter, so I'm watching this fall session. Launch that she is running. Okay. And lo and behold, this email comes into my inbox and I was, I was blown away. It was like, whoa, she was launching her fall sessions, and up in the header there was gorgeous.
Imagery, and I was like, there she fucking is. Okay. So I slide into her dms, like the very unapologetic business coach that I am, and I tell her that I cannot wait until August to get elbow deep in her business. And before you knew it. I was doing a full blown, like Instagram overhaul, and I, I went back to that [00:08:00] email.
I pulled some of those photos. I pulled some of the photos out of her feed that she already had, and I put together a new, like, front facing for her business and we're talking. A massive transformation. We're talking like queer eye to that kind of transformation, but make it branding. Okay. Then I, I posted about it on stories.
Well, first of all, I sent them to her and I was like, look, you are putting this out into the world and what you should be putting is this. And it blew her away too. But, so then I post about it on my stories because, hello. It was literally. The difference of like tripling her perceived value in under 30 minutes.
And I was like, am I gonna brag about that? Have I taught you that? We are gonna brag about that. People need to see that this is the magic that we're doing inside of the Mastermind. Right? Duh. Okay. So I showed the before and after I showed her old grid [00:09:00] versus the updated one that I had curated. And it didn't even look like it was the same photographer.
And we're talking about. The difference between being able to charge like $300 a session versus $3,000 a session, 400 versus 4,000, like this is not an exaggeration. This was us messing with the power of perception and perceived value. So then another photographer slid into my DM, who she had seen the before and the after of the Instagram grids that I post, and she asked.
A very, very, very pointed and incredible question. She said, can you explain why this would have higher perceived value? Both are beautiful and fairly consistent. And I was like, oh honey, I am so glad you asked because this question is perfection. But this question also. Leads into [00:10:00] the epidemic that I think that we're all facing.
All right, so the first grid, yes, it was consistent, but consistent and cohesion do not mean luxury. It was overexposed, it was blown out. There was boring and basic posing. It was the same wardrobe style over. And over again, it was pretty in the Pinteresty kind of way. But there was no voice, there was no design, there was no mood, there was no detail, there was no tension.
There was no artistry. Okay? And let me be clear light and airy is not the villain here. But blown out and bland, that's the villain because this other photographer in continuing our conversation, she said, okay, I can see what you're talking about now. But whenever I looked at that very first grid, maybe it's because I'm a light and [00:11:00] airy photographer, that I didn't notice it and I said back to her.
But when did light and airy become an excuse? Like when did light and airy become a crutch? Light and airy doesn't mean that we're maxing out the exposure slider until everyone's skin looks like printer paper. Okay? It doesn't mean that you ignore shadows entirely. It doesn't mean that you strip every ounce of contrast until your photo has the depth of a saltine cracker.
All right? Light and airy can be. Stunning, but it should still have shadows and highlights. It should still have dimension and depth. It should still have subtlety and soul to it. You cannot shortcut your way to luxury. Luxury demands, intentionality, and luxury commands. Artistry. And whenever I look at a luxury photographer's grid, I should be seeing like [00:12:00] curated style.
I should be seeing effortless posing. I should be seeing real emotion and composition that doesn't look exactly the same in every single square. And I should see editing that enhances. Into the light and airy, but not so much that it's Distractingly. Bleached. Okay, because here's the truth, your Instagram feed is your storefront, and if your storefront says, we're blown out basics, seen it before then, I promise.
You that your dream clients are walking right by. And if you want to attract a $3,000 client, you cannot show them $300 images. You need to give them a reason to believe that what you offer is rare. Emotional, unforgettable, and absolutely worth it. You cannot simply take photos [00:13:00] and let there be this crutch where you're like, okay, I am gonna do this.
Same thing over and over again. And I'm gonna have this client wardrobe inside of my studio or on location or wherever it is, and everybody's gonna kind of look the same and wear the same things. And we're gonna keep the same posing and I'm gonna keep on with the same composition. And then I'm just gonna edit it so that it looks bright, brighten, airy.
And then I'm gonna use that crutch of the editing to be like, oh, look how beautiful this is. You can't do that and expect that you're gonna move into a luxury market. Alright. This is not just a rant, I want it to be more of. Not necessarily a wake up call, but just this little nudge for every photographer out there using this style as a crutch for every artist who's hiding behind their best work.
For every one of you that is kind of playing a little bit small because you're a. [00:14:00] Afraid to stand out. You're afraid to get funky. You're afraid to ask your clients to do something different or interact in a different way, and you're simply creating the same exact thing that Jodi Joy Photography down the street is creating.
Let me say this louder. Pretty is not the same as powerful. Consistency is not the same as luxury just because you scroll a feed and you see the same thing over and over and over, and over and over again, and it's all cohesive. That doesn't mean luxury and light and airy is not the same as overexposed and blown the fuck out.
All right. Hiding behind your complacent work all because you don't wanna do the work that is going to get you your best work.
That's the fastest way. To never be seen in this industry. All right, so I think this goes without saying that. I say this all from a place of deep [00:15:00] love and a little tough love. Yes, but deep love because I want to see you break free from this straight jacket that is holding you down and keeping you in the same place as photographers who are down the street from you.
Let's fix it. Let's do work that we are proud of, work, that we love work that makes people feel something, and then let's cool it. On that exposure slider. Okay. Bring those shadows back down a little bit. All right. Because your clients deserve better, and so do you. Okay. I feel like I need to take a step off of my soapbox.
I need to go get my bags packed. I need to hop on a plane to Cabo. I need some margaritas, even though I am. Not a tequila girl. I am a full blown vodka lover, but for the sake [00:16:00] of being in Mexico, I will down some margaritas. So until next time, bye for now. Friends.
Outro: Okay, so that is a wrap on this episode of the Posers Podcast. If you loved it, please subscribe, rate, and review because honestly, algorithms are needier than all of our ex-boyfriends combined. And ladies, I need all the help I can get. If you've got thoughts, questions, love letters, even hate mail, please send them my way.
I actually read every single one of them. So until next time, stapled, stay messy and don't let the bullshit win. Tits up. Ears open and go build something. Incredible. Bye for now, friends.
