Not sure when Tamara Lackey came into my life, or our industry for that matter. It just seems like she’s always been there. She’s always supportive and loaded with enthusiasm, another photographer who’s proof that hyper-active kids grow up and can have great careers. What makes Tamara so unique is her background in business prior to becoming a photographer – she’s simply brilliant and possesses that “trifecta” we all wish we had: an understanding of business and marketing, an outstanding skill set as a photographer and creativity as an artist!

She’s also incredibly intuitive and in this post this morning, destined to become one of my favorites, she’s helps us understand the importance of Mom’s role and the gratitude you need to show, while at the same time following through on your responsibility as a photographer. You’ve got to be ready for the challenge and know your stuff.

I’ve written before about women making 98% of the purchase decisions to hire a professional photographer in the portrait and wedding categories. Well, today Tamara reminds us that Mom not only makes the decision, but is critical in the execution of the process!

This year she’s a keynote speaker at Summer School, helping to kick off our first full day on Monday, August 1. It’s a day full of terrific programming you won’t want to miss. In the mean time, here’s a teaser to help you get to know Tamara Lackey, a great photographer, a great business woman and a terrific friend!

We hear a lot about gratitude these days.  Whether it’s an incentive (adopting an attitude of gratitude helps you live a longer – and richer – life) or whether it’s part of a complaint (it seems gratitude has taken a backseat to entitlement), there’s a lot of buzz around the concept.  And, yes, there’s even an app for it. 

As a portrait photographer, I’ve consistently been grateful for the fact that my clients chose me – especially those who continue to choose me throughout the course of their changing family dynamics and my changing interests and styles.  I think many portrait shooters share a similar feeling of appreciation.  But that general feeling is more of an overall concept.  What I’ve been honing in on more recently is looking at each individual family I meet at a shoot and not just trying to read their personalities and relationships, but also giving a lot more thought to what they went through before they actually got to me.

gratitude_TamaraLackey 

Most portrait sessions are orchestrated by Mom.  When I actually look at it from her perspective and see each task involved with seeking out and hiring a photographer, including the decision to invest in the experience of a portrait session and clear all schedules for the chunk of a day, it’s not difficult to see why a family may show up for our shoot in a bit of a state. 

Mom often plans everything, prepares the family, dresses them, feeds them, bring snacks for them, waters them ahead of time and brings more for the road, coordinates naps when possible, psychs them up just early enough, bribes them with a reward at the end, promises her husband this won’t take too long, and does any other activity she can think of that may be involved with orchestrating the looks, moods, and attitudes for an optimum capture experience so that … omg, by the time a family shows up for a shoot with me, they are already halfway through their own endurance event. 

What I see when a family appears is a mother who is in need of a small break and a group individuals to whom I owe gratitude at the outset – along with an assurance that I’ve got it from here.  That means I know my equipment, I know my lighting, I know the individuals that make up this family, I will be studying their relationships with each other, and I show exactly how grateful I am by pulling out all the stops on each shoot I do:  whatever it takes to pull off a successful shoot and make her, and their, efforts worth it.  Gratitude is an attitude, yes – but it’s also a key part of our photography toolkit. Tamara Lackey

Image by Tamara Lackey. All rights reserved.