Celebrating the team.
2022
Executive group portrait
If you thought of each month as a season, I’d say most would associate November with "thanks," December with "giving" and January with "fresh starts."
Thinking about the past two years in my business though, this month and the new year (for me) are turning into a season of gratitude for teamwork. I am incredibly grateful for everyone who has helped me grow my business since 2021 and want to give them a shout-out. Without a doubt, I couldn't have excelled following the birth of my twins (and a global pandemic, of course) without such an incredible support system, including my photo consultant who helped me rebrand, build a new website and always offers solid advice on all things photography - Stacy Swiderski; my fabulous friends and fellow photogs who regularly work as my assistants, second shooters, first shooters, on-set-sanity-keepers, et al - Lawrence Elizabeth Knox and Leanora Benkato; my bookkeeper who manages numbers that I can never seem to balance - Nathalie Wagner; and my favorite Houston salon who provides hair/makeup for my headshots - Reserved Salon.
I think the group photo featured here is a great example of two things: behind-the-scenes work of a creative team and separately, celebrating teamwork.
On this job, I had a digi-tech Macon Leiper setting lights and working the computer, assistant Leanora Benkato arranging chairs/stools/apple boxes and posing clients, and HMU artist (Savannah Buchanan – Reserved Salon) giving each client a touch-up so they were photo-ready. On top of that, the manager at The Houston Rental Studio assisted on lighting setup as well. Ultimately I pulled the trigger, but it was definitely a team-created portrait. So I’m incredibly thankful to the people who helped make this image, as well all who back me up regularly on the my various projects.
On the flip side, I think this image is a great celebration of teamwork on the client’s end. They could have had each lawyer photographed and stopped there. It would have been simple and required fewer logistics. Instead, they included the entire team. With that, they celebrated each person knowing that work gets done and cases are won because everyone, from the bottom to the top, has their role to play in the Ferrell Law Group. When you visit their website, this image is the first thing you see. I'd be willing to bet that not only does it make each person on the team proud to know they matter, but it also probably catches the attention of potential clients who want a strong team fighting for them.
Long story short, I’d like to start 2023 in a season of gratitude by saying “thank you” to my creative/business team! I know this post doesn’t name every person who has helped me. I definitely owe tons of gratitude to my husband, parents, daycare and certainly to God for abundant blessings. But hopefully these words of thanks inspire a few others to celebrate their own teams as well.
