If you follow me on my personal Instagram @its.alex.peterson you may have picked up on some hints I’ve been dropping regarding a secret project I started during quarantine. I finally revealed what it was on IG this week so today I thought I’d share it here on my blog – I’m launching a photography education business! Eeek! I’m so excited to finally share this with you!
Over the last 8 years of owning my business I’ve learned a thing or two about photography & business and, as a former teacher, I love to share my experience to help others. I’ve been offering private coaching sessions, workshops, and a mastermind too, but I never marketed them much. I always intended to make it more of a focus but just never found the time to set it all up. Let’s just say that new services, products, and courses take a while to plan and create! With COVID-19 almost completely wiping my calendar of weddings and shoots for several months, I finally had the time to sit down and really map out this new endeavor. I’ve been doing a ton of work behind-the-scenes and I’m excited to finally launch my new project (and website!) next month!⠀
Whether you‘re a hobbyist photographer wanting to take better pictures of your family and life, or a professional who wants to grow their business, I have so much good stuff coming your way! This new project of mine combines my 14 years of teaching experience with my experience as a business owner and professional photographer over the last 8 years and let’s just say it is a labor of love. I cannot wait to share more details with you!
In the meantime, I’ve decided to bring you on this journey of launching a new business. I’ll be posting about it on my personal Instagram @its.alex.peterson so be sure to follow me there if you’re interested in the steps I’m taking to launch this new business. This week, I shared about the personal branding session I did last week with my good friend, associate photographer, and brand photographer Jocelyn Cruz. If you’ve never heard of a branding session, this was a photo session where we were able to create a complete set of images that represent me, my business, and my brand. I’ve been in business since 2012 but had never done this. I always had an excuse – not having the time, not knowing what to wear, needing to lose a few pounds, etc. Well, quarantine afforded me the time to finally plan this out and it was so worth it! I got so many images to update my current website, use on my new website, (coming next month!) and share on social media. I can’t remember the last time I was in front of a camera for this long – probably since my wedding day eight years ago, ha!
I’ll admit, it’s a little weird for me to have so many photos of myself – after all, I’m usually *behind* the camera, not in front of it – but I know how important investing in professional photography is, especially for a personal brand. My husband is a professional photographer, so I could have told him to snap a few photos for me, but it wouldn’t have been the same as a full personal branding session with someone who specializes in brand photography. Instead, Jocelyn and I dove deep into the type of imagery I wanted to create and we spent three hours creating it! I’m so happy with the results that I picked a few favorite headshots from the shoot and added them to my Idalia Photography website. You can view them below! You’ll see more of the behind-the-scenes, lifestyle, and candid shots we got in the coming weeks on Insta and on the new website.
Photographers, if you’ve never had a personal branding session done, I highly recommend it! And if you’re in NJ, reach out to Jocelyn Cruz – she will take great care of you! And for makeup, reach out to my friends over at Make Me Up Eva.
Thanks for following along on my journey – see you on the ‘gram over at @its.alex.peterson !
