Jill C Smith

There’s a version of family photography that most people are familiar with. You show up.You pose.You prompt.You deliver a gallery. Done. But what happens when that model stops feeling right? In this episode, I sat down with documentary family photographer Melina Coogan to talk about building a business that looks completely different from the norm—and what it takes to evolve when your work (and your standards) outgrow your systems. This Isn’t Just a Style—It’s a Different Way of Working...

What if you could get booked in places you actually want to travel to? That’s exactly what photographer Jaime Bugbee King has done. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Jaime built a family photography business that doesn’t just rely on her local market. She strategically markets to destinations like Palm Springs, ranks there on Google, and books premium sessions while turning work trips into mini getaways. And the wildest part? She did it while raising young kids, managing a household full of...

There’s a version of running a photography business where you stay neutral. You don’t say too much.You keep things “safe.”You focus on the work, not the worldview. And for a long time, that worked. But it’s getting harder to maintain. In this episode, I sat down with Maddie Peschong to talk about something a lot of photographers are thinking about—but not always saying out loud: What happens when your values start showing up in your business… whether you planned for it or not? When...