Sarah Beau//Interview
Sarah Beau
Tell us a bit about yourself! (How would you describe your style, how many years have you been in the photography industry, what do you love to photograph, ect.)
I’m Sarah Beau and I’ve been a photographer for 7 years with my focus landing primarily with weddings & branding. Weddings have been a love of mine for 6 years and branding has sparked a lot of joy for me in the pat 4 years. I fall somewhere on the spectrum of light and airy with a focus on directing my clients in a way that allows me to document them candidly.
In an industry that thrives off of social media, how do you overcome the jealousy and comparison that can happen when scrolling through your Instagram feed?
I think that in the start of my career I was sucked into the comparison game, feeling like confident after a shoot and then hitting up the gram to only feel like I should have could have done this that and the other better. I don’t know how I overcame it, I think it changed with age, maturity. A mindset shift. People hire me because of me/my work, people hire others and it has nothing to do with me.
+ The unfollow button is something I’ve become very familiar with in the last few years.
What would you say to the younger, pre-full-time photographer, you?
You should start a savings account like yesterday.
How does goal-setting keep you encouraged?
I am incredibly check list motivated, so having a goal and a checklist associated with breaking it down to achieve is incredibly satisfying. I think looking back at my goals that I crushed and the goals I fell short of is encouraging. I can say hey this is why I had success here and this is where it’s clear I struggled. So now with that knowledge, how can I do better?
You’ve done a few styled shoots, what advice would you give to someone doing their first styled shoot? How does styling a shoot impact your business?
Contract with all vendors. Boundaries & Expectations of how everyone can use the images etc.
I think they can be incredibly helpful to build out & attract a specific client you’re targeting.
What I don’t like about them is how misleading they’ve started to become. I’ve seen SO many blogs lately where they posted the “styled shoot” with some BS paragraph about how they were “so humbled to be trusted by the couples for their wedding”. It’s not cool, we all watched the insta story on it with 10 other togs documenting the styled shoot. Stop false advertising.
What motivates you to photograph?
Human connection. I love learning about people, I love hearing peoples stories. It feels like I am such a big part of a pivotal moment in their life.
Your branding is such a great reflection of your work, how did you figure out what this brand looks like?
I started to look at what people responded to. Was it the posed images or the candids? What did my following navigate to?
I started pulling the common colours in that work, kept it simple and went with the motto that less is more. My brand is a mix of the consistency of my work mixed with the consistency of my personal life/Jinx.
Are there any business-related bad habits that you wish you stopped doing sooner?
Not sorting receipts weekly.
Not tracking my mileage consistently.
Not sorting my inbox regularly.
Not having everyone sign contracts.
Can you share what your typical work week looks like?
Wednesdays & Sundays are OFF.
I usually plan out my week with batch work. Currently it looks like.
Monday – Client Care/Emails
Tuesdays – Content Creation. This is when I’m blogging, writing captions, recording podcasts, planning out the content I am sharing and creating images that work with it.
Thursdays – Editing. I crush the most editing on Thursdays.
Fridays – Odds/Ends. This varies each week with admin, shoot prep or editing that needs to be done.
Saturdays - weddings usually
Every Sunday. I map out my week or in wedding season, I map out 2 weeks ahead with all the deadlines mapped into my calendar and create a manageable plan with free time.
It seems like the #1 question that new photographers ask is about gear! Aside from the basics, what’s a piece of gear that you love?
As much as I love all my camera gear and could go on about it. It’s this bag I bought over a year ago from Kamrette that has me obsessed.
It’s the perfect size for sessions, coffee shop dates and travelling. It went all over Australia with me, to numerous engagement sessions here and even consultations!
I feel trendy AF with it and love all the compartments.
I know it’s hard, but can you pick one image from 2018 that you’re really proud of and tell us why you love it so much?
Oh gosh. This one. Because it was spur of the moment, some guy painting a white construction wall black. It just immediately sparked my interest and excitement and I’m so happy it did!
Want to learn more from Sarah?
If you’re feeling stuck or looking to build a community of like minded business owners to help you accomplish your goals I’ve got two things happening:
My mentoring programs as well as my mastermind program. Here is what Ashley has to say about my Mastermind program:
“I had so many goals for my business, but was never accomplishing them. I wanted to be successful but was accountable to only myself, and that just wasn’t working. I joined Sarah’s Mastermind to gain some accountability partners and learn from other business owners, and it’s been the best thing for my business this year! It’s so helpful having brainstorming sessions to figure out problems and share resources, and it helps to know that you’re not the only one who struggles owning a business sometimes. If you have reachable goals for your business but just aren’t getting anywhere with them: sign up for this Mastermind. You’ll be surprised how much you can grow when you have a support system of other amazing business owners!”