016. ANEMOTION [VIDEO]

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Tarik and Jay, welcome to the Crew Table.
Thank you for having us. Guys, this is a first.
This is like ground breaking newheight for the podcast because
we have two guests. It's actually nerve wracking on
my end because I'm so scared of how it's going to roll out.
It took so much like preparationand stuff, but it didn't seem
fit. And we had conversations about
this. I haven't used both on and I was

(00:31):
going to like prolong it into we're in the new studio where we
can have three guests in the accommodator, but I was like,
no, the time's right. We're going to make it work.
I'm so excited to have you guys here, but I'm going to give a
little introduction just in case.
No one knows the face of who's on the table right now because
your your business is not your name.
It's it's called animotion. But these two other powerhouse
husband and wife duo of animotion.

(00:54):
I guess most people will know what you do in wedding space,
like you guys are photographers and videographers in the wedding
space. But obviously beyond that, you
guys do shoots, You do a lot more stuff that most
photographers and videographers would accommodate too.
But you guys have reached incredible success over the
years and I don't think you guyscould have done it without each
other, which is why you're both here.

(01:14):
I agree. Tari, do you agree?
Absolutely. Yeah, 100% you should.
I just need it. I just need it on the record
just to make it. Feel good but.
One thing I do love in this world is a family run business.
It just, it just feels good in my soul.
It feels good in my heart when Isee another family business
going, I just want it to thrive because there's a lot more

(01:37):
benefits and it's not about the finances that then it would kind
of bring to other people. I feel like if you're going to
think generationally, it's an inspiring kind of element for
your children, others in their life, even if they don't have
children, anyone associated, youknow, business is so hard to
run. There's so many sacrifices, and
seeing a husband and wife devotepretty much everything on the

(01:58):
line for it is just a credit to itself, regardless of how
business will turn. So good on you guys for what
he's doing. And he's fucking killing it.
Thanks. Thank you.
But sometimes we look at each other and we're kind of like,
how did we get it? Yeah, It's like, how did it
happen so fast? It happens.
It just, it's crazy. 100% I alsowas talking to you.

(02:19):
So guys just so you know everyone listening, I have a pre
screening. It's pretty standard for most
podcasts but we had a pretty good pre screening over the
phone last night. Just chatting about everything.
Trying to cut it short so we don't roll on everything hour.
And a half pre screen. But so true.
But one thing that resonates me with you both and I, I mentioned
it during that phone call is, you know, technically we are

(02:42):
competitors, which is like, you know, there's no way around it.
I don't offer videography, but Iam a photographer.
I don't see our styles quite similar, no, in a good way or a
bad way. I feel like we all have our own
unique take and things and we have our personality that comes
through with our art. But there's one thing that I
found with you both and I genuinely feel like it's a

(03:02):
testament to you both is there'sliterally no animosity and it's
nothing but warmth and love, which is quite rare in our
industry. I don't want to sound like a
Debbie Downer here, but you know, the wedding industry can
be quite tough sometimes, particularly with competitors.
You know, you have competitors you get along with and I hate
that word, but it's a reality right when it comes to bookings

(03:24):
and scheduling. But since the day I knew you
both randomly on a job and will complete strangers and a rock up
at bride prep to like over the years, there's been like genuine
love and friendship, and I feel like that's a testament to your
personality and it's something Ithink out of everything I admire
over you both individually and as a coupled together.

(03:44):
Thanks, Joe Duck. I honestly think that there's
enough work in an industry by everyone, everyone.
And it's, you know, we should help each other grow.
We should, you know, inspire each other.
We love your work. I mean, we always, you know.
You're so sweet. We do.
I'm being totally honest. You know, there's a lot of great
photographers out there and I think everyone's style resonates

(04:08):
differently with different couples.
Yeah, 100%. It's, you know, and we lose jobs
to you sometimes, and I'm sure it's vice versa.
Oh, but don't say like that. You're so guilty.
No, not for that. But we're George got it over us.
Son of a bitch, that's all right.
We're doing video, I'll show them the day.

(04:29):
But I'm genuinely happy because I want our couples to book us
because they resonate with our style 100%.
And we want your couples to bookyou because they resonate with
your style. And, you know, the last thing
you want is to win over a job because, you know, you dropped
your prices to get the job. Yeah, but not because the couple
actually genuinely wanted to book you, you know, And I think

(04:49):
you would agree. With that as well, Absolutely.
I mean, the last thing I want todo is for a client to book us
when really they're looking at another company or another, you
know? Yeah, another photographer.
So I feel like for us, it's I want you to genuinely book us
because you love our work. Yeah.
You love our personalities, you love our style, and that's all
all couples. Like when I do meet with him,

(05:11):
it's like, don't just meet with us.
Go meet other photographers. And this is your wedding day.
This is kind of like the biggestdecision that you're going to
make on your wedding day where with you guys from start to
finish. So you want to make sure we're
vibing. Yeah.
So that's my. But I think even on a personal
night, bro, like I hate to bringit up on a public forum, but
like, you know, it's he caught me off guard and he meant a lot

(05:32):
and I told you on the phone he meant a lot.
It was like 3 weeks ago. I don't even if you know this
Jade, but three weeks ago, whatever it was was recent, Tark
was calling me. Oh my God, Tark's calling me.
I just answered. I was editing.
It's OK, bro, What's happening? I'm nothing much, bro.
I'm just editing. What are you doing?
It's like you're saying, it's like I'm just calling and say
hi. It's like I haven't heard from
you in a while. I'm like pretty sky is not
normal. Like that is the sweetest

(05:53):
gesture and it's so not common. It's very rare to be genuinely
that caring, not just by a fake persona, just to kind of get
through life and have that kind of, you know, I, yeah, I get
along with everyone and just so like it feels good.
It looks good, but you genuinelydo care.
And if we do hang out outside ofwork, it's very natural and, you
know, normal. And I think that's it's, it's

(06:15):
hard to be that way because it's, you know, it's easy to
kind of let the toxicity of everything around you bleed into
work life. So it's there's obviously a lot
of work you guys have done in internally inside yourselves to
kind of be that way. So I love you guys for that.
Thank you. And this is my chance to kind of
put that out on the table and bemushy but.
I guess it's a personality thing, right?
Like, yeah, way, very easygoing people.

(06:38):
And we show respect to whoever shows us respect as well.
So I guess when like the first time I met you and we, Jed and I
both met you, we just vibed. Doesn't matter what you do, who
you are. I think it's that's one of those
I disagree. I think you guys are just
content in yourselves. When someone is content in their
self and they're kind of full intheir own capacity, there's no

(06:59):
other room for them to look at others in any other light.
When you have parts of yourself that need growth, you look at
other people in other different ways, whether it be jealousy or
anger or frustration, you're just totally fine.
But when you're full internally in your own home and in your own
space, then you're totally content with the world.
The world's kind of the grass isnever greener on the other side

(07:20):
because the grass is green on your side.
Anyways, enough about that. On a personal note, just in case
I do refer to it, Tariq and Jadedid shoot my daughter's
christening. We'd ask them to be along and
they killed her. And I love that.
They also did my brother's wedding for photo and video.
I was a groomsman. I did not want to shoot it.
My brother's like, can you shootmy wedding?
And I said no, I was like, I love you, but I need to not be a

(07:41):
photographer that day. And I need to be present.
And he's like, who do you think?And I was like, what's your
vibe? Told me it's vibe knowing that's
called Tariq and Jade, but also another big topic that I kind of
want to reach out to. There's so many to go on through
this podcast, but one thing thatI found very impressive about
you both is how your studio evolved to get an international
presence overseas, which is something very hard for

(08:01):
creatives. And it's not just photo and
video listening, it's more abouthair, makeup.
Wedding planners working, particularly in Europe during
their wedding season is something that's like a hard
basket for a lot of people. It's like too far to reach.
And you guys have tackled that really well from what it seems.
So I'm going to pick your brainson it and kind of get sounds

(08:22):
like you're comfortable with that.
But before we do, how did animation come to life do?
You want me to go with this one?Yeah, you can see.
OK. All right.
So I was doing photography solely on the Jade Berber
photography. This is before I met Terry and

(08:45):
it had been about, it's been quite been a long time actually
about 10 years, ten years, 10 years.
I've been doing photography awesome.
And then obviously I'm at Tariq and I was really burnt out.
I had 150 weddings one year before we got married.
That's a lot of weddings. That's a lot of weddings, yeah.

(09:05):
So that's like minimum Saturdaysand Sundays every week.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, I had another team which I'd
sent out. But what made it really hard
with my business model was I wasdoing the emails, I was doing
the phone calls, I was doing theediting, the photo taking,
dealing with the cards transferring.
And I think that year killed me.That was a that was a crazy

(09:28):
year. And I did say to Tarek, I'm
done. I'm not doing this anymore.
I did my last wedding. Yeah, I did my last wedding
right before our honeymoon. And I said, I'm not, I'm not
doing anymore. That's going to chat, shop, pack
the cameras, sell them. Done.
She was burned. She.
Was I was really burnt out? Yeah.
And. Yeah.

(09:48):
And, And when we're having this conversation, I remember you
saying to me, I don't want to dowhat I'm doing anymore either.
I work Saturdays. He was driving cranes.
He's a crane operator. Because I don't want to do this
anymore if we're going to start a family one day, like I don't
want to work Saturdays. How ironic.
And he said I wanna work Saturdays.
I. Like this guy?

(10:08):
Yeah, he said. I.
He's like, I don't wanna work Saturdays, let's become a
wedding studio. But I remember that conversation
and he was saying. If I finish at midnight.
And and you said, this is not the lifestyle I want to live.
And I guess look, as much as we try not to say that, you know,
financials effective, but it really does.
You know, you, you probably feltlike you weren't getting paid

(10:29):
enough for the hours you're working and you didn't feel like
you wanted to do that anymore. You were done.
And we said let's use our Europetrip because we had our
honeymoon coming up, coming up and we had booked three months,
almost three months away. Yeah.
And we said let's use that as our inspiration.

(10:49):
We'll come across something there.
You know, we're actually thinking of something food
related. So totally, yeah.
And we thought something will inspire us.
We'll see something in Europe and we're going to say that's
what we want to do in Australia.At this point, I had never
picked up a camera in my life. Yeah, yeah.
Never taken a photo. Knew nothing about photography.
We had our wedding photos that Ididn't even look at.

(11:10):
Wasn't interested. I was probably like most grooms
these days, kind of like, yeah, OK, book who you want.
It's fine. I trust you.
Yeah. That's so you were like, yeah,
your worst nightmare. But you were the you're the
nightmare groom. Yeah, God forbid you're going to
be like, sorry, take the boys for some shots.

(11:32):
Honestly, man, it was that's, that's yeah.
So I, it's funny because I called my boss up, told him that
I was going away for six weeks. We actually had booked six weeks
and then at the 4th and just before we left, I bought a new
set of work clothes. So when I come back, but I
remember these oh, so when I come back, I had clothes to go

(11:54):
back to work. Clean new work booths.
New work booths or anyways, yeah, at the 5th week or the
6th, literally it was like our last week, I remember we were in
Lebanon and I, I FaceTime my dadand he had this beanie on and I
was like, dad, what's going on? Like I'm sitting there and we're

(12:15):
at a beach club It's it's hot, it's 35°.
It's like it's freezing. Loving it.
He's like, it's freezing. It's just hail.
And I was like I looked at Jade and I was like, listen, I'm not
going back to work. We're not doing it.
I'm going to find something, we're going to do something.
And we extended the trip. And from that point I said to
myself, I'm not going back to big car.

(12:35):
I don't know what I'm going to do.
If I'm going to do something, I'm doing it now because we
don't have kids. We don't have the, you know.
Responsibility. Yeah, the responsibility of, you
know, obviously we didn't have ahouse at the time.
Yeah. So I said let's just do it.
We went with it and I got back home, picked up the camera and
yeah, But before that, yeah. Before that.

(12:59):
Was the Instagram husband you? Well, you're a trip.
Guys, I asked him so I know thisstory and I asked him if I can
get some photos 'cause I might share with you all listening of
Tariq first work, his first portfolio, first Jade.
Photo I will tell you, we're in Switzerland and I was standing
on the mountain and some people like, is that Photoshop?

(13:20):
But it's not. There were these black crows,
but the crows there aren't like the crows here.
They're actually beautiful, these black crows circling us.
And I think maybe we had some food there and I don't know.
Yeah, just still circling out. And he took this snap and
there's 3 crows in the photo andmy dress just picked up the wind
and it was flowing and he took the photo.
It was so beautiful. I remember when I saw that

(13:40):
photo, I was like, babe, are youserious?
So at the time, did you feel like she was just like stroking
Eureka when as a photographer, photographer wife's like, it's
amazing like. Yeah, I was like, she's just
saying she wants more photos. But it didn't end there.
Like every photo he took was so beautiful, you know?
And we had some bad times. Pretty.
Shit photos. Wait.
We couldn't get the shot. And I was like, Jade, I'm over,

(14:02):
I'm hot, I'm hungry, let's go eat.
Yeah. I'm so over these photos.
Done. We're not doing it.
Yeah, as like every husband. Other husband?
Yeah. So I think the heat got to move
it sometimes, but but I mean, webuilt a beautiful portfolio on
our personal Instagram with somebeautiful photos, you know, of
both of us, of the scenery. You also did some video.
Ignited. Yeah, and then I remember you

(14:23):
said at the end of our trip Fable, I know my calling.
Long story short, I bought a drone on the trip and I started
making drone videos. There you go and literally
holding the drone and walking with it like it was an actual
camera. Well, they had any.
People were looking at that detail.
We could have left out people. Were looking at me like I had
three heads and I'm like what you never seen in you never seen

(14:44):
a black cold drone in your life just walking around with it
anyways, actually little. Did they know she?
Got some awesome footage out of it.
Yeah. And we edited it and I was like,
you know, this is fun. I actually enjoyed this.
So it had never crossed my mind that I would ever turn this into
a, you know, into a career. Then we got back to Sydney and I
said to myself, you know what, let's give it a shot off the

(15:05):
bat. I went and spent 70 grand on
camera gear and I didn't even know how to turn the camera on.
What am I doing? I got 3 heads.
We're just going to go with the flow.
You know what, if I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose big, you
know? Yeah, let's just go hard.
We booked our first wedding. I had nothing to show the
client. It was obviously Jade's
photography. They didn't care so much about

(15:26):
video, but I wasn't going to show them our video.
But I guess it was more about personality.
It really got along with the bride and groom and that's where
it kicked. Off Do you remember that couple?
Yeah, I do. That's awesome.
I do, It's always our. First couple that gives you
their full trust. I still see them until today,
our weddings. No way.
Yeah, that's awesome. That's so good.
Shout out to them. Well, we obviously sparked from

(15:49):
trust, I think is a foundation in each other.
But then obviously love kind of brought it together, which is
kind of cute. Mushy part of George that always
speaks. But what would you say is the
best and worst part? And I want you to both have your
skill and this tool. You have the table working with
your actual husband in one with each other as your partner.
You can go first. Be honest, let it, let it all on

(16:09):
the table. This is therapy.
Couples therapy. OK, I think for me what I found
challenging the most was when I was doing photography on my own,
I never really considered the videographer.
And being a sole shooter withoutvideography in my company, I was
always thinking I need to get the shot.

(16:31):
I always thought the video photographer is the most
important factor of a wedding day.
But then. She saw a debate for Larry I.
Got yeah, look, I think they both have, I mean, this is going
on in October. I think they both have their
value. We.
Didn't get it, but I think for me, what was challenging at
first definitely was not gettingin his way and being able to

(16:54):
direct so that he can get what he wants.
Some candid moments, too. Yeah.
And that clash, that clash was hard at first because he's like,
I can't get the shots. You're constantly in the way
like we move aside, then we do my thing and that was hard, but
we've we've found it a good middle ground now and.
I guess for me there was a lack of inexperience from me on my
end and I feel like my approach today versus back then is very

(17:21):
different, right? So I didn't really wanted direct
shots because I felt like I looked too forced.
So I was trying to work around the photographer and capturing
natural moments and the way she was directing was beautiful for
her photography style. But in terms of video with
movement, I was like, I was lacking that movement.
I because I didn't have that because I didn't have that
experience in directing as much.I felt like I lacked that in the

(17:42):
video. So I had a vision, but I
couldn't bring it to life. I get what you're saying.
And as time went on, we kind of aligned where I said, look, we
want more movement. We want to do some crazy stuff,
we want to do some fun stuff. Let's jump on the city, let's
cross the streets, let's do something different.
We were inspired by a wedding that we seen shot in New York
where the couple were literally walking right in the middle of

(18:03):
the street with all taxis. And see, I feel like that's
where we started the whole crossing the street shots.
And I love that. And it's kind of one of the
things, one of the things that we love doing now where it's a
bit crazy, you know? Traffic passing.
It just always it just you always get the best reactions
out of couple. It's like natural instincts and
I feel like from then that's howwe kind of moved in towards what

(18:24):
got us towards our style. So what's the best part about
working with each other? Get to spend the day with your
best friend. That's kidding.
Honestly, that is it's going much fun.
I'm not trying to be corny, but I actually love working with
you. Yeah, and I honestly, Terrence
personality on a wedding day andyou probably have experienced

(18:45):
it's the best. It's the best.
It's the best. It's the best, Yeah.
And why? Guys.
I love it because I. The best because I can roast
him. I can handle that.
And he's a nice, right? He's a joke.
He's just serious. Like he can be to me, I can be
to him. But like, obviously in a
friendly way. And it's like we, we actually
laugh at each other. Yeah.
Well, this is a win. But it's actually fun because we

(19:06):
roast each other in front of thecouple, but in a cute, fun way.
And the couple love it. They're like, Oh my God, you
guys are. So yes, it does.
Because, you know, we the life aren't perfect.
Yeah, you know, couples aren't perfect.
You know, there's arguments, there's good times as bad times,
and we try and be as real as we can, you know?
One thing I find that is probably the best as a duo
couple is when Chase trying to direct a shot, she actually

(19:28):
shows the couple and she grabs me in a certain way.
It's like, that's kind of cool. And then the couple are
generated like, oh, should we take a photo of you?
That looks amazing. Yeah, I love it.
Yeah, that's. All good, you've got the dump
back. That's all you're like, yeah.
You're like, you've got to actually kiss like this.
And I say, obviously working seven days a week with each
other and then having private life.

(19:50):
How do you use get that balance to kind of protect your
relationship? Is there a secret to it?
Have you guys worked it out? Is it just natural and innate to
you both? Do you set boundaries?
Like what's the go? Because you know, we can be
fluffy here. We can say that it's all magical
and amazing. But you know, like this stuff
that comes into it, What we have, there's accountants when

(20:12):
there's like booking problems and there's slow months that
kind of put stress in a couple when there's really fast busy
months that kind of also put pressure on a couple.
Do you have any kind of secret how you protect your own
marriage? Outside of the world of
weddings. That's a really hard question.
We always speak about making time for each other more always

(20:36):
and the family. But now we're talking about
marriage rights. So us, we always speak, we
always talk about, but we do like, we always talk about like
making time for it. But essentially what we don't,
we don't really make time for us, you know, when we have free
time we spend with the kids, right?
But that's a really hard question, George, because I feel

(20:58):
like when you're married to someone, that's your person, you
just make it work, You know, it's somehow just falls into
place. That's personally what I think
the hard time to do together, the good time to do together.
And for me, a big factor that makes us, you know, you know,

(21:18):
when there are the bad times, when, you know, something goes
wrong and we're arguing about something because of work.
Yeah. I think trying not to bring that
home, dealing with it at work because that's work, but trying
really hard not to bring that home.
So much harder than you. Said It's so hard, but to just
shut off, especially for the kids because the last thing you

(21:39):
want is for them to say that youknow, and it's hard sometimes
it's really hard. Sometimes it does get brought
home. But to also be able to say
afterwards, you know, like I effed up or that was wrong on my
behalf. And you know, to not just keep,
you know, that feeling of resentment inside you to be able
to say sorry and letting go and moving on because it's not

(22:02):
personal when it's a business, you know you.
Always have the best interest. Yeah, do you?
Want to add to that? She.
She. Said she can talk, can't she?
She got to say. Now bro.
But if you want to speak now. She can talk, can't you?
I guess for us, for me, because we're both in the same field.
Like she understands when obviously when I'm having a bad

(22:25):
day at work, she can relate to her because she's been in that
position before. So she's actually.
The way to put her? She's kind of the backbone where
she knows how she knows how to. How do I word this?
I make you dinner every night, so that's probably that.
Probably. She knows how to cool me down.
Yeah, well, the time I'm in thissituation.
Sure. And let it out at home and it's

(22:46):
like had a bad day at work and she'll because she's been
through it before. It's kind of sometimes it could
be the first time that I'm goingthrough it because she's been
through it before and she's a lot more patient than I am.
She'll kind of, she'll calm me down.
Yeah. And I appreciate that.
I think the most important thingfrom my experience, and I can
see it on your end if you guys haven't seen it, it's just being

(23:07):
on the same side of the court atall times.
Even sometimes if there's a smidgen of doubt, a smidgen of
disagreements, having that support and just like trusting
that whatever your partner's feeling or going through is
valid and like there's somethingto work.
Even if you don't understand that, remember that you're yet
to understand. Just being on their side is like
the best feeling in the world. I can say that for my wife.

(23:28):
Like how she's never been on a job with a wedding, but she does
all the admin and invoicing. She knows almost every story
that I'll tell her, explain things to her.
But you know, sometimes when things go wrong, instead of her
saying, you know, certain thingswill upset me further to having
someone on your side is like themost empowering thing to get
through and persevere through hard times.
Yeah, agree. When it comes to creative

(23:50):
direction, I'm going to fire with some hard questions.
I'm so sorry. Just have each other.
It can be a little bit harder, right?
When it comes to creative direction, who do you think
takes more control? The two of you.
I guess it depends on our roles on the day.
OK, so let's say these are at a wedding on average.
I'm not going to let you get away with answering this.
Who do you think kind of like doyou look at and let's talk.

(24:14):
If you want me to go straight todetails, picking location, which
room to shoot in, how are you going to shoot it?
Picking location generally comesbefore the wedding day, so.
You know what I'm getting at? I'm going to say Jade.
For real? Yeah.
You feel like you take creative direction.
I think we bounce off honestly. This is me being totally honest,

(24:36):
totally honest. I feel like like the
photographer generally, like if Tariq's photo videoing on the
day and I'm photographing, the photographer generally takes a
leash, she takes a leash. But if you have a cool
suggestion, we try to make a work.
Sometimes as a videographer, it's weird because I didn't
realise this until I started. Because she fucking loved
shooting. Put me in I love video import

(24:56):
this way. I'm not just saying this like
like even like today I was on the phone to Pierre and his wife
because we have a wedding on Saturday and we're discussing
location five times over. And I'm just like, but you tell
me what your input is. You're suggesting a location
that I wasn't even suggesting. And I'm like, yeah, that's fine.
Like rally at like, what are youthinking?
And like, you know, you suggest good points.
Yeah, but I'm just thinking likepersonality wise, just kind of

(25:17):
let one take the lead. Or is it just?
I think you want to enter this one.
No, you can answer this one. I only hear what you're going to
say. No, you hang up.
No, you hang up. I I, I think we honestly, I
actually felt we bands of each other.
What I love about working specifically with Tarik, because

(25:38):
sometimes we split up, right? Sometimes I shoot a wedding and
he shoots a wedding. And if that's the case, then I'm
leading and he's leaving. Yeah, of course.
Yeah, that's given. But when we work together, what
I love is about working with Tarik because we kind of touched
on this before. Tarik has that fun personality,
so and his style of shooting is a little bit more freestyle.
He likes angling, he shots a little bit more, he likes a lot
more movement. And I think 'cause he's a

(25:59):
videographer that works like really well and he's able to
bring that into photography. Whereas I like, yeah, I wouldn't
say pose, it's not pose, but I like to perfect a shot.
Like I want them really symmetric just.
In the. Archway Yeah.
I want them to have that perfectstep when they're putting them
put land in. Screen.
Yeah, why didn't I flatten her hair down?

(26:21):
Yeah. I'm very fussy, even though I
think I've trained you well in that department.
I always see Tariq fix in the bride's hair and so so you.
Can sing in here before the podcast even there and I'm like
good boy. And I think, I think we bring
different things to the table. That's awesome.
And when I look at our gallerieswhen we shoot together, I love

(26:43):
them because there's like, there's a slightly different
styles. Yeah, but they marry each other
really well. It's.
A fusion of the two, right? Yeah.
Yeah, if you could ever switch roles, would you Ever.
Never. Photo video.
Like No, he does. Photography.
Yeah, I know. But like if you were to like,
let's say if you were like full time, I know you can do both.
But like you're predominantly video, right, would you say?

(27:06):
Today, predominantly photographyunless, yeah, I guess it's only
because obviously we've got the three kids now.
So unless, you know, Jade personally gets booked or I
really need Jade on the job because we've got two or three
weddings that day, then you know, obviously it's just.
All right, So then I'll ask you the question since like your
photo, would you pick one of thetwo if you had to like bullets

(27:29):
to your head? It depends on location couple.
No, sorry, that's not you don't get the circumstances it.
Depends on the photographer. I love photography because I can
take control. Yeah, I love videography because
my whole perspective on a wedding changes.
I should be very different as a videographer as opposed to a

(27:49):
photographer. So I feel like my approach is
very different and it just depends.
Like every couple is different. Sometimes I get to locations and
I'm like shooting video and I'm like, Oh my God, I wish I could
shoot this in portrait because it just looks like it's such a
beautiful location for portrait.And then I look at the
photographer and I'm like, oh, that looks so good.
I'm shooting a landscape that I can't even see her feet.

(28:10):
So then I'm like, stuff I'm doing video and portrait anyway.
And then I've recently started to incorporate that into our
videos. I I love that part of it.
Yeah, for videograph. Sorry for photography because
you the whole portrait side of things, but it's, it's, it's
hard. It's hard.
You're not gonna be an answer. I love both.

(28:32):
OK, that's fine. You didn't need to give me an
answer so good. I feel like it could be a
really, I could go really far with videography.
That's fine. And that's my goal.
I want to see I just. Feel like video gets movement
really well and it's when I say movement, I mean it's not even
descriptive enough. It's just like storytelling
really well yeah, yeah, sometimes it's a small thing

(28:52):
It's like the way someone like blinks when they look at their
partner that you wouldn't get ina photo or like, you know the
the small little traits in someone that you fall in love
with can only be captured in video That's so true.
Or they're small, little like you know, Twitch isn't it's.
Hard, shy moments do. You get what I'm trying to say.
Or even if it's the way like someone like a dad looks at his
daughter and then looks away, orlike it's just, it's it's

(29:14):
different on video. Yeah, I feel like your photos.
Feel that like you feel like that touch more.
Yeah, obviously you add audio into it and it's like, oh, like
it just like sets the scene a little bit more.
Do you know what I mean? I was.
Going to say it comes back to how you edit it as well.
Feel like that's one of my strengths, editing and just
really picking out shots that just put you.

(29:36):
There really get there. Yeah, give a good perspective.
Yeah, I'm going to change the pace a little bit and talk a
little bit about Europe and not just Europe.
I'll kind of always refer to Europe, but signal that I'm
going to say destination weddings because obviously
there's a lot more Europe weddings than you do, but you do
obviously other countries like New York recently and killed and
smashed out the park, but you know, there's, there's just a

(29:58):
lot to learn. I've actually never showed a
wedding in Europe. So a lot of this is going to be
me kind of picking your brains just so you're aware, but then
I'm going to let everyone else in.
What do you find is the main difference when it comes from,
and I'm talking the generic stuff, think beyond the generic
stuff. Give us more on the table
between European weddings and Australian weddings when it
comes to like timelines, creative freedom, expectations

(30:19):
or anything that you really like, was culturally shocked by.
I'll go this time. First thing I'm gonna say,
lighting is so different, the lighting in Europe.
Did you expect this answer? Yeah, the lighting in Europe is
unreal. I mean, let's say a winter
sunset here where you get that really nice crisp golden hour.

(30:42):
You feel like it looks like thatall day, OK, in Europe.
The other thing is, I feel like it's much more chilled, much
more relaxed. You're not starting super early.
A lot of things are very late. So over here you would start,
let's say 9:10 AM. Over there you're not starting
till 1:00 and it goes through till the night.
I mean, one of our most recent weddings we did in Greece, they

(31:05):
started speeches at midnight andwe left that venue at 6:00 AM.
We were looking at each other like what is going on?
It's one of our first weddings that we did in Greece and I was
like, this is cool. That's nice.
This isn't. Fun, you know, we hadn't even
been fed and it was 1:00 AM and we were like, what's going on?
But that is what that's the difference in.
Australian time, you have to say.

(31:26):
Don't even need to adjust. It's cool.
And then like anywhere you turn,it's just so beautiful.
You picturesque? Yeah.
Just looks unreal. Do you feel like it's
picturesque and it's unreal because it's something that's
like, not like it's foreign to us.
Or do you actually genuinely think that it's more
picturesque? I genuinely think it's more
picturesque from what I say. It is more picturesque.

(31:47):
It definitely is very beautiful.I mean, we have some beautiful
places in Australia, but Sydney within itself, we're talking
about Sydney. It does have its limitations.
Like you probably feel like you're constantly shooting in
the same locations, right? Because we find that a challenge
to you. We find it challenging to come
up with new locations. All the time there's and if it's
not a new location that you thought of and you're like, oh,

(32:08):
this is a mad place. It's like boom 1 grand if you
want a permit. Yeah, exactly 500 permit.
We need 4 weeks notice. If you want a permit, you can't
just like roll in and kind of yeah, it has to be so pre
structured and it doesn't reallyallow for the with the chance to
kind of just naturally go with things.
Yeah, yeah, I totally agree. I love how your weddings work
around the sun. That's what I love.

(32:30):
That's awesome. Yeah.
Have you ever gone to a destination wedding where things
can go completely wrong, out of your control?
Out of your control? And how did you handle it?
And I'm talking like when I'm running this question, I'm
thinking more about like travelling with gear, you know,
understanding how things run there.
Every wedding we're always way overweight no matter how I feel.

(32:50):
Like a tour was you. The tour was overweight.
But the camera gear right as well, yeah.
And they have limitations with how much you can take on.
So we're constantly anxious because we're.
Scared it's a thing like they. No, just travelling on the
aeroplane because they have a limitation with the kilos you
can take on. And we have the camera gear, we
won't put it under board becausewe, you know, can get damaged
and whatnot. So we always carried on.

(33:12):
But carry on luggage is what, like 10-15 KG?
How much does your camera give weigh?
It's so heavy and I feel like we're always nervous because
we're like, we're gonna get caught, we're gonna get done,
We're gonna get a massive, you know, fee.
We have to do extra. Knock on wood, that's never
happened. But.
I would never, yeah, but I wouldnever travel with my gear
checked in because. No, you can't.

(33:33):
You can't. You just.
Can't. It's always tiny.
It's gonna change. You can't even afford re buying
the gear when you're there if something goes wrong like.
You can get killed. Yeah, exactly.
They're missing, lost. But I think when the fact that
we take our kids, you're right, it's kind of saved US kids like
you get like they're going crazy, crazy and like, all
right, just come through. I feel like we kind of get away

(33:53):
with it sometimes. I'm like to the kids, listen,
just make a big fuss. Yeah, I don't want you there.
And then like our little one will just be losing it.
And I'm like, oh, seriously, it's just so overwhelming.
We need to get through. OK, no worries.
Yep, you can come through the line.
I'm. Walking everyone, you're like,
that's awesome, That's really cool.
Have you ever been, like, caughtoff guard with anything that was

(34:14):
like, unprepared, like you kind of weren't aware of when you
went overseas for weddings there?
Like I'm talking more yeah, across the board.
I'm going to say one of our first Lake Como weddings, we
didn't realise how far it was toget around in Lake Como, for
instance, where we stayed, whichwas the Bellagio.

(34:35):
Yeah, yeah, Bellagio, the wedding that we were shooting
was right across us, but to go right across us by boat was like
a 5 minute thing. Couldn't even swim there.
But when you got your gear and you got your car, it literally
took us about 2 1/2 hours to drive all the way down to the
town and then go back around allthe way there and then it was
just a nightmare. So like that's one of the things

(34:57):
I feel like the in between logistics of the day, we
definitely learned from that mistake because we spent half
the day driving in the morning, so.
I'm gonna ask a random question that might not resonate with a
lot of people, but it like just sprung up on me.
So when photographers or videographers or anyone in
general, thinkers are creative, wants to go overseas, obviously

(35:17):
there's a gamble, right? So you can either, there's like
two ways around it in my mind, either advertise, hey, we're
going for these months if you'reinterested.
And you hope that someone kind of sees it and sticks to it and
they're like, yeah, perfect. An emotions going in July,
August, right or you have someone who like randomly trusts
you and go back to when you never had shot a wedding the
overseas, right And it was like come overseas and shoot a

(35:38):
wedding. How did you guys go about that,
which is my question, like getting that first leap to go
overseas. I'll talk in my own experience,
all the weddings I've done overseas this far have been
Sydney couples that had gotten married overseas.
Like I did a wedding in Dubai and stuff like that and they
were like Sydney couple. They just chose to get married
overseas. Only ever have now one wedding

(36:00):
this year in in LA. But the right agreement is from
LA. God knows how they they like it
came about, but it came about. But what was your initial plan?
Was it planned? Did it just come?
I actually had a friend who was getting married in Santorini.
There you go. That was the very first wedding
that we shot overseas. And after that, Tariq, how we

(36:24):
kind of got more Europe jobs wasTariq posted her video on
YouTube. And then our very next booking
that booked us was it was a South African couple living in
America who found us by typing in Santorini, winning in
YouTube, watched the video and loved it.
And then they booked us for bothphoto and video.

(36:46):
So that's when it started. Like naturally with a portfolio
out there, it makes the most sense, right?
It's the most promising secure thing up to like that's our
venue that was mad photos or video, that's who we're booking.
It's a natural instinct. What I found, actually, what I
find really interesting is it's not all our international
couples that book us for their destination weddings are

(37:09):
actually not through Instagram, believe it or not, it's through
YouTube, it's through Pinterest or it's through TikTok.
Well, funny you say that becausethe couple from LA are actually,
I thought it was a spam email. Yeah, I'm not even joking you
because, you know, you get theserandom inquiries all the time.
But Alexi and I will answer every single one of them.
Like fuck it if it's a competitor, if it's spam, good

(37:29):
luck. You know what I mean?
It's there's nothing to try. Try a luck.
And this couple was like interested.
And then I said to them, like, Nah, this can't be true.
Get them to do a Zoom call. And they say that they're
actually real humans. So they're like, yeah, so I have
this Zoom call and I'm like, these are great people.
These are nice people. And I asked them like, how did
you find me? And she goes, well, funny
enough, I was like, visited all the photographers around me,

(37:51):
didn't vibe with any of them. And then in my Pinterest board,
there was like, I was saving stuff for my wedding dress.
And she goes in all nine photos you had taken all nine photos.
Like, let me just get in contactwith this guy.
And I'm like and even advertise on Pinterest.
I don't even know how those photos are up there to be
honest. It's a funny one.
It's exactly the same. We never had a Pinterest, we
never had a TikTok. We posted one video on YouTube

(38:14):
and that's how we got most of our Europe clients.
Now we have our TikTok going. Conversation for us as I
creative to kind of like take that time just we never have
time yeah, but like to take thattime to kind of diversify our
portfolio and not just pull up our eggs on Instagram, yeah.
I totally agree and ours our actually we actually had a
wedding that went viral on Pinterest through the wedding

(38:35):
planner. A lake coma wedding.
We didn't have we didn't have Pinterest at the time.
We didn't have Pinterest at the time and we had like 2-3 couples
saying we found you on Pinterest.
The viral lake coma enlightenment you did.
And we're like. Let's have a look.
We typed it up and, you know, like everywhere.
Yeah, the photos are everywhere.Pinterest is a serious gay man.
It's what I kind of feel like it's there's, there's some

(38:58):
serious kind of business going on there.
Yeah. I want to talk a little bit
about building an emotion and a little bit about more of our
business talk. What do you think?
And I want you to both answer this and whoever's going second.
Don't just steer off this answer.
Tariq, what do you think sets anemotion apart being a photo and
video wedding studio compared towhat it is?

(39:19):
I know that answer straight away, so I'm going to go first.
I you can't say the same answer.You can't.
Yeah, that depends on me too, right.
You go, you go. I think what sets us apart is,
you know, honestly, I'm not trying to sound, you know, cocky
out myself, but I think what sets us apart is that we do
photo and video really well. So cocky.

(39:43):
I'm being Jason seriously. I'm I, I think, I think because
I run photography and Tara runs videography, Even though you do
photography as well, we're able to, you know, refine our work
and push out our work. So synergy, yeah, easy answer
because. Look, there are companies that,
for instance, do photography andthen they're like, you know,

(40:05):
we're going to add on videography, but the videos
suck, you know, Sorry. No vice.
Versa, there's some companies that yeah, but because you know,
Tara, we had a video in Tariq specialised in videography.
It was great. And I'm, you know, I'll, I will
say I think our videos are quiteunique and there's no one who

(40:26):
does video like us in the Sydney, Australia market.
Would you like to anything to personally again, it's kind of.
Hard to go on. But it's kind.
Of hard because I was actually going to say the same thing.
What was the question again? What's that to your part though?
Say it again, What's? That to your part.
I'm going to say look, and you get this with a lot of you get

(40:48):
this with a lot of companies, but I feel like personality is a
big thing for me of work. Look, I've because I do
videography. I've worked with a lot of
photographers, which is awesome because I get to work with the
best photographers and people that you see on Instagram.
It's kind of like, I love this stuff.
So I've done work with video work with and they have been

(41:09):
photographing the same wedding and I'm kind of like, OK, I can
see what the vibe is like, but Iknow what you know, I know what
we do on wedding days too. And I feel like it's such a
vibe. I always leave weddings where
the couple are just super happy,put aside the photos that could
be the worst photos ever, but the vibe on the day, the couples
love it. We're just there.
We're partying with people whereit's a wedding like and

(41:33):
naturally even before I got intothis industry, I'm always being
a happy, funny, fun out there type of guy.
So I feel like bringing that in towards my work.
I feel like that's what kind of sets me apart from a lot of
other. Yeah, man, you're, you're decent
for this apart. Do you feel like the wedding
industry's over saturated, particularly vendors who like

(41:54):
kind of in our field? There's a lot of upcoming great
photographers. I guess there's enough weddings
for everyone. It just comes back to the style
that you like in terms of let's talk about, obviously there's a
few different tiers of photographers out there,
photography companies. I feel like I don't think it is.

(42:16):
I think there's a lot of photographers, a lot of people
that, you know, do. You feel like there's an issue
or conflict around when it comesto copying.
You bought a photo video. Sometimes.
Yeah. Do you guys ever kind of deal
with that? Is that affected or no?
Nah, you just do a thing and youcome up with something, yeah.
You just like say it, ignore it.Ignore it.

(42:37):
Genuinely. Genuinely, honestly, I actually
think it's a compliment when I see people.
Copulate. I say that most of my.
Life. No, I'm genuine.
I actually think. I have an issue with this.
I never have an issue with that.Like I will sometimes do a shoot
when it was. So it's always a pre wedding
shoots. I find it was like so planned
and so organised. Yeah.
And then you say like a month later, the bride wearing the

(43:00):
exact same outfit at the exact same location at the exact same
spots with almost the exact same.
It's as if like APDF was printed.
George, can I say and copied andlike that my couple, I'd never
even see it. My couple would send me that and
I'm like, that's so beautiful. They did a great job and it's
just like, I don't, doesn't bother me, but it just bothers
me in the sense of like. Have your own style.
It's not even have your own style.
It's just like if a couple was to send it to me.

(43:23):
I'm like, yeah, cool. Why don't we try this, though,
just for the sake of challengingmyself, right?
And not just producing somethingthat you provided me because
it's so easy, right? Yeah.
I feel like it's just getting a recipe and cooking it.
Yeah, can I say we've actually, you know, and I feel like you're
the pre shoot guy. You you're the appreciate that
people. Know you as the wedding guy, but

(43:44):
they also know as the pre Yeah you now pre shoot.
I love you magazines. People have constantly emailed
us your images saying we love this pre shoot, can we do the
same? And we have the same approach as
you say look guys it's beautiful, happy to go to the
same location but let's change it up a vehicle.
Why don't we try this? Instead, you don't even need to
communicate it to the client. I'm just saying like on the

(44:05):
field, be aware to kind of challenge yourself.
Yeah. Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, it's and it's it's normal and natural for our clients.
Like I love this location where it was if I hadn't shot there
before and someone else has doneit's totally fine.
And not like, you know, trying to sound but over here, but it's
more just like as a creative, try to challenge yourself a
little bit. Yeah.

(44:26):
I feel like Sydney struggles with that.
Yeah, I feel like naturally, if you're not in people's
Instagrams and constantly looking at their stuff and being
like, I want to shoot this exactly like this, I think
naturally everyone has a different eye.
Yeah. Slightly, you know, so I think
just, yeah, just doing your thing.
Do you think that as photo and video, now that we're on the

(44:47):
table, we're undervalued in the wedding space compared to like
wedding planners, florists, venues?
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think people don't want
to. People are scared to spend money
on photo and video. I that's what I personally
think. There's a massive change in the
last like few years a. 100% Well, speaking about this the
other day actually, and I think that people think that I think

(45:08):
there's a lot of companies out there that charge a lot less,
that push great work and I thinkpeople think that that's the
standard. But there's more to it on the
day, right? There's the organising, there's
the personalities, which is a big thing.
I think what sets us applied andyou as well is the personality
yeah. What you get on the day, the

(45:29):
experience you get on the day where literally.
Like, how do you explain that tosomeone?
Yeah. It's so hard, but I mean, when
they meet you, they know. Yeah, I think that.
And we want to book the couples that feel that if a couple's
booking us based on price, then they're not the right couple.
If a couple's booking us becausethey love our work and they love

(45:49):
us, then I want that couple because I want to enjoy that day
as. Well into that.
Yeah. I just feel like there's a
massive gap that's kind of like changing right now in the sense
of like we are a little bit undervalued, not to rally us or
like literally it's like I feel when my sister was getting
married, youngster girls like automatically 10K on photo, 10K
on videos, like just like the standard notion.

(46:11):
And then like somewhere across the line and cheaper and cheaper
and cheaper. There's so many people and it,
it, there has to be Rangers, right?
Because not everyone can afford certain levels.
Not everyone can afford top tierand middle tier, like whatever
it may be. But there's always that
conversation around money. And it's like, at what point did
people realise that there has tobe some integrity around the

(46:32):
work and the quality and runninga business and stuff like that?
Yeah, I think like people are willing to, it's funny because
people are willing to spend a lot of money on like, let's say
the waiting plan or the florals.And I think it should be the
same for the photo video becausethis is going to sound so
cliche, but the photos do last alifetime.
A. 100%. You're going to be looking at
them. Feel like a lot of people don't

(46:53):
realise this could sound wrong. They don't realise that they
stuffed up until the actual wedding day.
I didn't. Think that sounds wrong at all?
Because I've, I've had couples, you know, I've had couples that
have inquired with us for both photography and film and I've
said, hey, there's another company that's a lot cheaper for

(47:15):
photography and I'm OK. I'm like, OK, do you love their
work? Look, it looks OK.
We we're happy with it. No problem.
You know, you do what you think is going to be best for you.
So then I'll go book that company for photography, go
around, search around for videography and realise that
there isn't a style that they love and they love our style.
So they'll book us for video. Then the wedding day rocks up

(47:36):
and then they're looking at me for answers because why the
cheaper company? And this isn't against like to
have a stab at anyone, but a lotof mass production companies,
obviously you're not getting theowners or they're highly trained
photographers. There's a lot of, you know,
there's a lot of other shooters on the day, a lot of freelance
shooters. So I guess it's kind of like,

(47:56):
you realise on the day that they're lacking that experience,
they're lacking that personality.
And I feel like couples are kindof looking at me saying, oh,
what do we do now? I'm like, well, I'm a
videographer technically, I'm not meant to be directing.
And it's kind of wild when you really want to think about it,
if someone takes a time out because it's their first time
doing it, It's their first radio, but it's not our first
radio. Yeah.
So that experience of like, running the day and actually

(48:19):
doing the right thing comes backto us, right?
They're always gonna look at us once they're out of their house,
they're not gonna be able to phone a friend.
It's like they're with us all day.
Exactly. So we have to have the
experience to combat challenges,to move on the fly.
You know, like never. Sweat a bullet.
Stay calm also like let things flow naturally but also flow in

(48:43):
control and. Also time managed at the.
Same time, that's what yeah, that's exactly what I meant,
like flow in control to like kind of know we need to be out
of here by this time or be here by this time.
But just everything else in between kind of happened as it
as it needs to be. And there's like constant
struggling discount that people aren't even aware of.
Yeah, right. They're just going to always
battle price and there's always going to be someone cheaper.
That's the problem. Yeah.
There's always going to be someone more expensive on the

(49:05):
same hand, so it's just kind of finding the right fit.
I'm going to change the pace andtouch on something personal for
you, if you're comfortable to talk about it.
But in 2022, you had a personal struggle, a health scare, you
suffered from cancer. Do you mind kind of letting us
into that journey? And the only reason I bring it
up is because there's a lot of personal struggles that we can

(49:27):
go through in our own life. We can kind of bleed into it and
explain it to people. But I'm bringing it up because
you carried it really well and you carried it really well in
the sense of you still had your babies that you took care of and
they're thriving. You serve, your husband is
happy. You serve a business that's even
booming even more. And that means there's a lot of

(49:48):
sacrifice that's having behind the scenes that maybe you
haven't had the chance to speak about and deserve the
acknowledgement over. You know, it's you obviously
suffered from something that younever would ask for or imagined.
And that's tough. But I kind of thought if you're,
I know you're comfortable to share because I've asked you in
advance or would never put it onyou that if you're comfortable
kind of explaining that kind of period of your life to us.

(50:11):
Yeah, I think I cried a lot about this situation.
So I'm now I feel so content talking about it.
But I had a skin cancer scare that grew on my nose.
And at the time, I had my son, who was nine months old.
And I remember going to a ENT ear, nose and throat surgeon

(50:31):
thinking that it was, you know, something internally in my nose,
the blood was getting blocked and wasn't flowing or something.
So I had a white patch right here.
And I remember the doctor said to me, that's got nothing to do
with internally. I believe that's a skin cancer.
And I didn't want to believe what I said, no, that's not skin
cancer. I'm young.

(50:52):
I don't have skin cancer. And he said, look, there's a
dermatologist upstairs, just go get it checked out if it's not
skin cancer, which I don't come back to see me.
And so I went there and they didit.
They took a sample of my skin and they tested it and it was
skin cancer. And I think I was still in
denial because it, it didn't feel right.
But, you know, so young and thatthat I'd have that.

(51:15):
And at the time it was just whatwas COVID in the midst of this?
It was just after, it was just before COVID.
COVID had just. Happened.
Just happened. Yeah, we.
Were about to get hit with. Postponing.
The emails postponing as everyone did, Yeah, yeah, it was
the backlog. Yeah, I remember the surgeon

(51:37):
wanting to do my operation that next week when we found out and
I said no, I can't. I've got weddings.
I can't, I can't. I can't do the surgery now.
Maybe we'll wait a couple of months.
He called me up and he said if she doesn't do her surgery next
week, she's going to lose her eye because it's right next to
her eye. Yeah.
And at this point, I'm. I'm sitting here thinking, oh,

(51:58):
my God. Like, First things first, I've
got to make sure she's OK. Then we find out that she's
pregnant. You were pregnant at the.
Time So what happened was actually.
Hold up, Rewind what? Yes, yeah, yeah, I was pregnant.
What happened was I, so my son was nine months.

(52:18):
I waited a month because I didn't want to do the operation
because I had weddings. We had to shoot.
I had to shoot. We had like 3 weddings in one
day. Like and we, you know, we don't
send out anyone to our jobs. We want either ourselves or our
trained shooters to shoot. And I called up the surgeon and
I said I'm pregnant. I'm 10 months, sorry.

(52:39):
My son and my son was 10 months,sorry.
And I said I'm pregnant. I just found out pregnant.
So can we delay the surgery maybe 9-10 a year.
And I just remember him swearingon the phone.
He's like, I'm not a swearer so I'm not going to say it, but
he's like, you're an effing idiot.
You're, you're going to lose your eye.
You're a young, beautiful mum. He's like, think of your

(53:01):
children. I've cut people's eyes out.
Don't be stupid. If I could do your surgery, I
would have done it a month ago. And I was so grateful for him.
Honestly, speaking like that to me because I was going to say
the, I think that's when I woke up.
That's when I was like, Oh my God.
She came into the room crying and I was like, what did he say?
Yeah, like what's wrong? What did he say that Major?

(53:22):
He said I'm not going to say theword baby, He said I'm an F an
idiot, Yeah. And then I, we ended up, I don't
know how we made it work, but wegot a shooter.
We got, you know, we found someone and that we really liked
their work. And I had to do the surgery.
I did the surgery and it was three operations over a course
of time and while I was pregnantto our baby girl and I did while

(53:47):
pregnant. Yeah.
I was so scared honestly. I.
Can't even imagine. I thought I'd cried enough with
Queen I was, so I remember feeling so scared that something
would happen to her. Could come on.
I didn't care about my cats. I just wanted her to.

(54:13):
Jake, you're such a beautiful human man, Willy.
Molly. I could not imagine that for
you. I know.
It sucks to hear that you went through that.
Yeah, but I was so grateful thatI had an amazing.
I had, we had an amazing surgeon.
We had two surgeons, one who cutout the cancer and then one who
did the plastic surgery. I had a forehead fat done.
He used the skin on my forehead to replace.

(54:36):
You fucking asshole, you should have gave it out your nose.
Actually, no, you didn't. I was trying to alone.
It's been broken four times before.
I'm just. Trying to change the mood
because I just kept crying, right?
I've had enough to press the legs on on camera.
You know what I actually said the character.
I've quite enough about this. I'm not actually.
I thought it's so. Beautiful.
I'm not going to cry, it's fine.But you know, children are so

(54:58):
sacred and beautiful and they mean so much to every parent.
So naturally when you speak about them, you get a little bit
emotional. But she was born healthy and and
the cancer got removed. But you know, what kept us going
was the fact that Tarek was in the business still and he was
looking after me and our kids, but also running that in the

(55:20):
background. I can't imagine.
And I think without him, we would have.
Yeah, we thank him. We would have.
Shown stuff that you even hid from her to kind of keep her
safe. I just remembered.
I can just picture like. Not if you're.
Going wrong, but like, you know,the normal stress that you'd
dump on your partner to help you.
I can't imagine the pain you also so and it's not fair that
you also felt in that moment, but you both are so incredible

(55:45):
and I hope that you've found some silver lining in this
situation that you went through.Not that you should have should
have had that. Honestly, when your sunscreen
sleep stops that that's like, I say that to everyone now.
I'm so, you know, big advocate of that now because you just
never know when it's going to happen.
Could happen to anyone. Like I was young at the time,
you know, you usually hear it happens to older people.

(56:06):
But but also, I think the fact that we got through that during
that crazy time, the COVID personal wedding, through
anything we said we'll get through anything, honestly.
That was the worst time of our life.
Yeah, I'm like doing 4:00 AM. Obviously we've I've just, we've
just shot 3 weddings, photo and video and I'm got cards piled on

(56:29):
the table. I'm trying to transfer it all
and get ready charging my batteries for the next day but
also looking after Jade and it. Also.
Just Malik's screaming. Smile when you get to the job.
Yeah, and we were like zombies. There was one week.
I remember we did Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, Sunday and it was like2-3 weddings a day and it was
just crazy. How long did it take for you to

(56:49):
feel back to like in control of yourself?
A few months. Yeah, it took a few months.
You didn't have to do anything else like medical.
I didn't because I was pregnant,he wanted to actually put a bone
back in because I lost a lot of my cartilage in the centre of my
nose has been concave. But he said because you're
pregnant, I'm scared to do that.So he held off on that surgery.

(57:11):
So, but the cancer's out and that's the main thing.
And honestly, when I saw, when he held the mirror up and I saw
my wound for the first time, that was really hard because,
you know, I felt deformed. And I had a big scar here that
was bright red. I had a scar all over my nose

(57:32):
that was bright red. And I just remembered Terry
constantly telling me like, you're still so beautiful.
I like those words never leave my mind.
And he said, no matter what you look like, he said, I'm still
here for you. And I still love you and your
children love you. And that kept me going honestly,
that that that really kept. But you still are so beautiful

(57:55):
and it doesn't matter. You aren't really are beautiful.
But it's not just about like Siri, it's about your interior
and you radiate that through. And you know what?
Your kids are gonna learn a veryvaluable lesson about your
resilience. Well, he always says that's a
story to tell people. Are going to look at your scars.
And when you're going to learn from, like, that, you went
through the hardest thing. Yeah.
Could possibly go through. Yeah.

(58:16):
In certain, like, degrees. It's very difficult.
Yeah. And you managed it and you
persevered. Yeah.
It's not easy to persevere. Yeah.
So you should be very proud of yourself.
Thanks, George. Is there anything that you kind
of, I'm even asked a stupid question to ask, but I always
feel a need to ask it. Do you feel like looking back,
other than obviously like preventative?

(58:37):
Do you feel like it taught you something that you were
unexpected about? Yeah, I think, you know, people,
and we're in the industry where people care about their look so
much, right? People care about that so much.
And it's great to look beautifuland feel beautiful, but life is
deeper than that. You know, relationships are
deeper, the feeling people give you deeper, your kindness is

(59:01):
deeper than that, you know, and I think, you know, that feeling
the love from everyone around meand, and everyone's compassion
and care, that's that's what youknow, keeps you going and that's
what's beautiful. You know, you kind of say, OK, I
went through this, but I don't look the same.

(59:23):
But you know, inside I feel content and inside I can put
that behind me and say I went through a crazy time and I got
through it, I think. Yeah, I just can't imagine that
moment you met your baby girl. Yeah.
That would have just been like. That was the best.
That was the best. That would have been That was
actually beautiful. That was a real moment for you
both. Yeah, it was a tough time just

(59:44):
because that was really. Like it was like, kind of like
the end of it all. Yeah.
I feel like maybe it's kind of beautiful, yeah.
Yeah. Change of a weed pigs, George.
The next fucking question didn'thave a conversation.
I was going to get that thing. But a massive achievement for
you both last year is that you've got your new studio.
Yeah. In North Stratfield.

(01:00:05):
Yeah, Correct. Fun fact, I used to work there.
Yeah, so right opposite. We're used to that building.
When I was in corporate world, that was the building I was in.
Wow. So I hate that student.
I was in corporate world. That brings back bad.
Memories, not bad memories, justlike, you know, like not like I
didn't feel like me. I'm.

(01:00:25):
Just gonna invite you man right now.
No, please. Not hang out, but like, you
know, I used to park my car down.
Like when you go to your shoe, you go to the right and there's
a car. How bad's the parking?
So I just have to. Say yeah.
Anyways, the only reason I want to bring it up is not just
because of the accolade and to give you guys that credit
because it's it's stunning and you guys have done a great job
and it's hard work. But I kind of always had this

(01:00:46):
question in my mind that I neverreally asked the previous guest.
And I wanted to understand the financial side of things of have
you found the return of investment when actually because
performing out of your home to then invest leasing into a
property to then kind of fit it out, get the furniture, keep the
upkeeming, get the staff. Like did you have you found that
return of investment investment yet?

(01:01:10):
Oh, answer this one. I guess the not, not just yet.
I mean, yes or no. The good thing about it is, I
mean, obviously we started off, we were in our wardrobe
literally to see where we started and where we've where we
at, where we're at now is it's amassive achievement for us.

(01:01:31):
It's something that we always wanted.
I guess for us, I feel like we always wanted to walk into our
studio, see all our editors sitting there editing, have our
meeting rooms, have our studio section where we can do photo
shoots and just when we when we when we do hold meetings with
our clients just so they can seewhere and space.

(01:01:53):
Feels like yourself. It feels like a.
Person. Yeah, exactly.
You're. Interested in that visually?
People also value your work whenthey can see the space.
Your work is what you do, how you work, how you, how your
business functions. People are like, OK, I see.
I see why they charge what they charge, you know, makes sense.
So has it? Do you feel content in that

(01:02:16):
decision? It's it's such a hard question.
Answer only because it's still new.
Yeah, I don't know if you've been in there for.
Been just over a year. Yeah, it's not.
Yeah, Yeah, it's picked up with like the studio shoot side of
things. Yeah.
The thing is, we're super flat out with weddings that by the
time we get to trying to push for the studio side of things,
it's almost like, and we're so exhausted.

(01:02:37):
It's hard work. It's like a question.
Yeah. And The thing is, I don't like
doing shoots during the day because we have our editors
there. There's a distraction,
distraction. The editors also don't want our
cups to feel, you know, uncomfortable because obviously
people are around. So generally I'll do it after
5:00 PM, but it's like at 5:00 after I've just done a massive

(01:02:57):
weekend. I just want to go home to some
family. I just want to play with my
kids. I get it.
So I guess it is we if it. Comes that balance.
If it comes, we push for it, we're happy to do it.
If it doesn't come, we're kind of like it's totally fine, happy
to go home as well. But I.
Think we're still trying to kindof work it out.
Yeah. We haven't quite figured out
that balance yet. We're still trying to work it

(01:03:18):
out. I think that for me the best
element to it is that separation.
Yeah. Right.
It's like kind of like when I get home, nothing is to do with
work. Yeah.
It's like normality in the senseof like the kids and stuff like
that. The thing that kind of sucks
sometimes is like, you know, Myspace is connected to my home.

(01:03:38):
It's like, what time do I actually clock off?
Yeah. So some days it's 6:00 PM, some
days it's 9. Some days I go up for a couple
of hours and then I'm like working until 11.
Like it's like it's hard to kindof set that boundary because you
know what's on your To Do List. So I feel like the beauty of it
and the benefit of it is that separation we can have kind of
like clubs enough for clocking in and it's like even mentally

(01:04:00):
having that space. But I've always, I'm curious
like when it comes to like leasing and you know, the fit
outs and stuff like that, like, is it ever worth it?
It depends on how you look at it.
And I'm sorry for this pressure.This no.
That's fine. That's fine.
We like we invested a lot into the studio.
You can tell that's why I'm bringing it up.

(01:04:20):
It's not just like some shabby chic studio that just you walk
in like some like hide office, like, you know, not not that
there's anything wrong with it. Like out of whatso space.
It's like a, it's a, well, it's a beautiful space with like
beautiful furniture and stuff like that.
It would have costed, yeah, a fair penis.
Sometimes Jade and I, we, we don't actually think ahead.

(01:04:42):
We're just like. Love this guy.
This is what we're gonna do. I don't care what it is.
I don't care how much it cost. We're gonna do it.
It's just A and then we get thistakers.
Yeah. I love it badly.
It's like we started off with nothing.
We're like, if I'm going down, I'm going down with nothing.
Yeah, honestly, we started off in our walking wardrobe.
Amazing. I actually remember Terry had.

(01:05:02):
Do you remember the the design? Design we had a a white board
and one day he came and I was editing and he wrote in massive
letters fake it till you make iton the board and he said don't
like that board still exists. It's still in because it was in
my mother in law's house. It's still in my mother in law's

(01:05:22):
house. It's funny, we see it's a nice
SO. We data from here and our
clothes were right behind us. So back to what you were saying
earlier in terms of working fromhome, it's so hard to separate.
And when we were working from home, I'd be up till 45 AM and
she'd walk in and I'd be on the table asleep.

(01:05:44):
And but these are the little things that you've got to do to
get to where you want to get to,right?
And now that we're in a studio and we've got our editors and I
feel like when I look at that and I although yes, rent is
expensive and yes, it did cost us a bomb, I guess it's worth it
in the end. Because when my, when our
clients come in, I guess we can kind of, they see and they

(01:06:06):
appreciate it and they can kind of feel, they feel special.
And for us, I guess we're selling a luxury brand.
We wanna make sure that our couples feel the same way they
feel. Like they touch points.
What are your insurance and outsfor 2025?
I'm just curious like what do you just don't want to kind of
bleed into 2025? Thinking of weddings?
Say that again. What do you want out of like

(01:06:28):
2025? There's something you just don't
want to bleed into this year. OK, I'm happy to list fucking 50
just kidding guys in the nice place.
Let me think big. Photo Video.
Wedding space. OK, I I think negativity.

(01:06:52):
Oh, no, I wasn't going down thatroute, but yeah, sure, keep
going. Is one.
Yeah. Anything about weddings
specifically? Let me redirect this.
Oh, OK. Like as in like the trend that's
happening or like. But absolutely negativity, you
fucking say 2024? What?
What do I want out? Yeah.
Were you like those bloody content creators?

(01:07:14):
Oh. My gosh, I don't mind.
I'm. About to I'm about to dig a big
hole and get shot by one of those content creators.
No, I didn't agree. I actually liked them.
Let's have the conversation. I love them, but I really don't
love them. What?
What in an objective way? What do you find difficult about
it? Seriously.

(01:07:35):
I just feel like, OK, look, I love the whole and this comes
back to what we spoke about earlier, love what they do and
it's great and it's great for the couple, but I feel like one
thing I don't the whole point ofit is BTS shooting behind the
scenes, right? It's.
Not becoming that. It's not becoming that.
I actually recently worked with a content creator who was

(01:07:56):
shooting on AR5 cannon, no shooting in portrait with a 28
to 70. And I'm looking at this thing
and I'm like, that looks great and deep down I'm like fuck,
it's way better than my shit. And she's like showing the bride
and I'm just like, that's great.But we're now defeating the.
Purpose of what created the shadow with the camera?
Yeah, I mean, I get it. The quality is way better than

(01:08:17):
an iPhone. You can't backlight stuff.
I get that part of it. But it's kind of like, and the
other thing is content creators who are jumping in and just
directing everything on top of the photographer I.
Only had that once at a pre wedding.
Shoot. And he killed.
I've had that a few times. And don't get me wrong, yeah, I
just feel like they're good if they're doing the job the way

(01:08:41):
they need to do it. For instance, shooting BTS,
capturing even the photographers, capturing the
photographers doing their thing,capturing the little moments
that the photographers and the videographers can't get to, like
the family. Walking up to people, having a
microphone and saying, you know,say a few things about the
bride, say a few things about the groom.
How do you feel today just beinga point of difference compared

(01:09:05):
to what we're actually doing? But I feel like sometimes we're
directing, they're capturing theexact same thing and then the
difference is the their deliverables get out there the
next day and it's kind of like, well, we've got 20 backlogged
weddings that I can't push this out by the.
Time you get home and back that up, it takes a few hours to go
to Nas servers and they kind of put it into like the programmes.

(01:09:28):
Exactly how does it work? I'm sorry it's all the content
creators out there, but it is the truth.
Maybe you're hating on disrespectful or not experienced
content creators as opposed to content creators.
See I. Haven't had the experience you
had about a full blown camera and I can't say that I probably
wouldn't have a problem with it if someone was like literally to

(01:09:50):
take like a photo with a full camera because I'm like, do you
just want a job? Because I'll hire you and I'll
pay for the day gladly. It's hard because you've
directed the shot. Do you know what I mean?
Like no, no, no hate. But like I'm actually like well
teamed, always willing to grow. So it's like, if that's where
you want to go, do you want to become a photographer?
That's great. But I yeah, I get what you're

(01:10:12):
feeling. I get what you're saying.
I just, I never really say it aslike something that's like, Nah,
let it be on Instagram. I just take their content to be
honest. And half of them are great to
give it like the amount of timeswhere I'm like, I see them and
they're actually a good content creator and I hate to or

(01:10:32):
anyways, you know who you are. OK, comfort me man copped enough
comments from this podcast anyways, if if they're a good
content creator, I literally will turn to him and say you're
giving me this content. They're like great, like thank
you so much and I'll literally like rally you rally me and I'll
like take their content and I made some tik toks go viral and

(01:10:53):
I'm like, thank you very much. Like I agree, shake hand deal,
let's get along. And like my phone stays in my
pocket on silent and I'm like, so thankful for it.
You know what I mean? But I don't think that's a
reason to book one because the reason I'm using them to be
completely transparent and publicly is to allow my business
to get content to then get reachfor further business for me to

(01:11:15):
be completely honest, maybe a person that says it, but beyond
that, I have no emotional connection to the content.
But what I do as a business owner is an emotional based
content. Does that make sense?
Which sells your business. So hard to expect it's not just
about business because to be honest, like you never really

(01:11:35):
like aim to be Elon Musk or likethis multi millionaire.
And I've never cared about beingpoor.
I've never really cared about the financial side of business.
It's more just about how's the business growing?
Are we doing the best we can? Me as a person, am I doing the
best I can so that I can look back in life knowing I gave
everything I've got for my kids,for my wife, for myself.

(01:11:58):
But when it comes to our work, I'm, I'm actually genuinely,
believe it or not, very emotionally connected to it.
Every single client, every single weekend, every single
job. Otherwise, I wouldn't freaking
do an hard work corporate. I have a degree, I'm happy to do
that, but I get the kind of disconnect.
I get where you're going here. So it's starting to bleed into.

(01:12:19):
It's like are you different creator or?
Yeah. Are you a real videographer just
shooting portrait? Yeah, You know what I mean?
I feel like and back to what I was saying, like the other thing
is just the whole directing feellike the photographer's being
paid to be the director on the day to run the show and I'm just

(01:12:39):
seeing too much. OK, my turn.
OK, your turn. OK, my turn.
And it's just putting off the mood.
Like we worked so hard to set a vibe, to set a mood.
And the last thing we need is tohave a content creator to jump
in and be like, OK, now my shot.And then they all conference
getting something that's so you know.
Speaking of direction, do you ever struggle with like brides

(01:13:01):
or grooms micro directing on a wedding day?
Yeah, we we have actually. But can I say I sometimes like a
bit of a bridezilla because she knows what she wants?
Yeah. Bridezillas are awesome.
If I always ask, do you ever have hard clients?
I'm like, not really, but even when they're like picky or
fussy, I don't. Mind that I don't mind because I

(01:13:21):
know exactly what they want and I'm going to give it to.
Them Because you know what I'm not going to lie I'm a picky and
I'm a fussy person yeah I'm probably people's worst flying
yeah probably was your worst flying see like I know what I
want I know you know what actually, I can vouch for it
when it came to Andres christening.
I think I even sent you reference videos.
Good. Like, I'm not like, yeah, sure,
do what you want. Like, yeah, so I get it.

(01:13:42):
So I'm with you on this one, Yeah.
I, I kind of like it because it means that she's in line with
what we want to. And if I know exactly what she's
after, then it's kind of like beautiful.
We're working together together on this.
Sometimes you get brides that are like, I'm happy to live with
you. You do your thing and I'm like,
OK, that's awesome as well. Don't get me wrong.

(01:14:02):
But then you're kind of just playing it out on the day.
And if you've sent me a hood board and you've shown me what
you love, I'm just like mad, OK,I'm in spite.
I know where to go, I know what to do.
So I don't mind that. One piece of advice to your
younger self before you started this journey, think token jade
premarriage. Well, when you were younger,

(01:14:24):
what would it be? Put us on the spot here.
Jade, take the look. You really know how to.
What's about it? Really know how to just take me
to 1st. When I first wanted to do
photography, which is straight out of uni, I did my honours in
graphic design and I majored in photography.

(01:14:51):
And I remember when I finished uni, my family, my parents are
all like you got to work in the field, you got to go work for a
studio doing graphic design And I said no, I want to do photos.
So you can't do photography. What are you?
You're not going to make money doing photography.
And I put up free wedding photographer ads on Gumtree.

(01:15:11):
No. So I did and I did about 5 free
weddings to build a portfolio. And I remember my family was
like, don't do that. You're so silly.
And a lot of the times I heard that voice in the back of my
head and I felt like I wanted totake down those ads and what are

(01:15:33):
you doing? You're stupid trying to do this
retry. But I think I'm so grateful that
I didn't because we are where weare because of that.
So if you were to speak to that girl right now, what would you
say to her? I'd say don't give up on your
passion and your dreams. I don't know how cliche that
sounds, but it's where it's why I am where I am today because

(01:15:57):
from those five free weddings, Ithen did 5 weddings at $1000 and
then I did 5 weddings at $3000. And then it just it built up
like that. So don't give up.
Listen to your inner voice and fill your dreams.
I guess for me it's different because I've done so many

(01:16:17):
different jobs in the lead up toget to where I am today and I
would say that this is probably the best job that I've ever
done. I've done some shit jobs, man.
I've been in some. I've been in some shit places.
I was actually a postee. There's nothing wrong with a
postee bro. When you're a big Arab guy
riding a postman bike. Every dog ran.
And you actually? Every German shepherd was like

(01:16:39):
fresh meat and. He's scared of dog and they just
say. I was a postie and do you know
how I lost that job? I had finished my run and I'd
seen the kids on the skate park,so I decided to join them
because I was a kid. Someone plug in Kendrick Lamar's
song right now. I'm just kidding.

(01:17:01):
I'm just kidding. Anyways, it was, yeah, I end up
losing my job because of that because someone's kind of
snitched me in. But there was a lot of things
that I wanted to do growing up that, you know, having the
traditional parents, they alwayswere kind of like, don't do
that, don't do this. And they come from the building
game. So it's kind of like, you know,

(01:17:24):
stick with us in the building game.
And it wasn't my thing. I hated it because what I did
was I was, I was doing labouringwork, which wasn't the fun part
of building. And I hated it.
And I feel like it's funny because when I started driving
cranes, I realised that it's notsomething that I wanted to do
either. But my, I'm going to say my dad,

(01:17:44):
he was like, my son drives cranes.
You know, he sits at the top of the job.
He runs the I remember I'm so. Proud, I remember.
So proud and. Newcastle.
Yeah, like, Dad, send me photos.How are you?
You're looking down at everyone,aren't you?
I'm like, fuck, I hate this job.I hate this job.
I want to get out of it. So when I finally picked up a

(01:18:06):
camera and told my dad that I'm going to become a photographer.
I remember this day. He looked at me.
I was like, he looked at me likeI had three heads.
He goes, what? I go, yeah, I want to become a
photographer. He's like, what do you want to
do? Pick up the camera and Bush,
Bush like your wife. Like I was like, James, what's
wrong with that? And I was like, you know what?

(01:18:28):
I actually don't give a shit. I'm going to do what I want to
do. And like, I love my dad for
everything he's done for us growing up.
But I feel like if I can go backto when I was younger, it's go
with your passion, go with your dream, which is what you said.
And don't let anyone, don't let anyone tell you that you can't
do anything. Because if I knew about
photography when I was younger, I would have started at

(01:18:49):
18/17/16. You guys have led similar parts
of your last. Yeah.
And I just can't wait to see what your babies flourish into
in the sense of, like a generational break.
Yeah. Just to see where that
flourishes. Right.
Yeah. They're kind of see where
they're going to end up. Right now you can just see from.
You can always. You can pick up on little

(01:19:09):
things. Yeah, yeah, there's some
creativity in in them. You know what?
This is for No one, but this is for them.
Go and name their professions. If they listen to this when
they're 20 or 30 years old, predict that.
Honestly, my son, he's going to be a builder.
He's going to be, I want to say,a builder.
Something he's. Going to be a structural
engineer. That's specific.
Hopefully the structure lasts longer than his Legos, but he's

(01:19:33):
very creative. He builds these amazing things
out. And my daughter's going to be an
artist. An artist in what retrospect?
I'm doing this for her, by the way.
She listens back to. She's gonna be a professional
artist that's gonna do paintings.
Awesome, yeah. She's very creative.
You're very creative. Yeah, and she holds her pen.
So at two years old, she's just.An lefty.
She's a lefty, I'm a lefty. So little Bobby's.

(01:19:55):
Your little Bobby's 11 months old. 11 month old.
He's gonna be a wrestler. Yeah, 100%.
He's he's. WWE, watch out, yeah.
He's got a good. Slap and punch on him, yeah.
I've copped a few. That's awesome.
Yeah. Can I ask, if you were to speak
to a brand new photographer or videographer or a photographer

(01:20:15):
here and you gave him advice today about one mistake that
you'd want them to avoid, what mistake would you want them to
avoid? Guys, seems to be a hard
question. There's no editing break here.
They're just thinking. What's what's one thing that any

(01:20:40):
mistakes we've made? That you just want them to learn
from people. I'll say this, double back up
your shit. Triple back up your shit.
Because I think that's a mistakeI made as a rookie photographer
and I lost a friend's engagementphotos and I was really upset
and she was really upset. Thank God.

(01:21:01):
I mean, no, it's bad in any situation, whether it's a paid
client or a free, free love job.But that told me.
It's an easy mistake to make. Such an easy and I've heard
people in the industry today losing footage and I would hate
that to happen to anyone. So back it up, double backup.
Good message to send triple. Back it up.
Tarek. Always have AB Cam on you.

(01:21:25):
That's for the videographers over there.
There you go, even. If you're a photographer, always
have a second flash on you. Yeah, OK, have a second flash on
you. I remember I shot a job in.
At this point I was pretty experienced but I only had one
flash and during entry my flash broke.
Dark reception entry, no flash. Happened to me.
Big trouble 2470 only no prime lens to get the light in.

(01:21:49):
And at this point we're stressing I'm like, we need a
flash, I need a flash. I can't shoot the entry like
this. So we're sitting there with like
2-3 iPhones in our hand with thelights on and I'm like, we made
it kind of work in the end. But yeah, I feel like just
always think ahead because you don't realise until yeah, you

(01:22:11):
don't realise until it happens. Always have an extra camera,
always have an extra flash. Absolutely.
I'm. Going to throw in my advice just
in case you don't want to listen.
Contracts, contracts, contracts or you do diligence with like
contracts and like speak to youraccountant before you start a
business. Yeah, protect yourself 100%.

(01:22:33):
I think it's so important to. Build the start the foundation.
Build the foundations first. I didn't have the foundation.
The first started. I was like, you know, love job,
love job, love jog and kind of blend.
And I was like, wait, you pull the handbrake?
You do. Yeah, myself.
I think one of the biggest reasons why I burnt myself out
when I was Jade Berber photography was that I didn't

(01:22:53):
have the foundation in place. I didn't have people, I didn't
delegate. I think delegation's so
important. 100%. We can't do everything
ourselves, you know, And to just.
As good as you take. It there's so many amazing
creatives and you know, we should rely on other people to
help us grow. I have.
A question for you, for fuck's sake.
And it's something that I've always.

(01:23:14):
Just ask all the hard questions.It's something that I've always
wanted to know because you know,obviously we've followed you for
years and it's like I know that originally followed you.
I know that originally you used to shoot with Image House.
Yes. And we also love their work too
and worked with Henrik many times and I love what he does.

(01:23:35):
He's an amazing guy. Incredible.
He's such a great photographer. So I just want to know, sorry to
ask Susan Chuck in the deep end.It's so.
Fine. I just want to know where you
realised you needed to kind of do your own thing or how that
transition kind of happened. Yeah, I'm happy to share that.
It's pretty like boring, but I'll share the story.

(01:23:57):
So I was doing so much work thatwasn't wedding related prior to
this moment. And I'm very fortunate and
blessed. A lot of my family members or
like clients were very like interconnected within the
community. I said that's my little
blessings. My clients initially in the
first few years of my business were my blessings.
They were like a seat of prosperity.

(01:24:18):
I would work so hard for them and produce so well for them and
give them my all. But they they word of mouth just
like was like a megaphone withintheir own family and friends
circle. So the business grew very
quickly for me. So it started before weddings
when it came to photo shoots andchristenings.
You know, people kind of petty the photographers or like look

(01:24:39):
down like, oh, they're just a Christian photographer.
There's actually a lot of business in that.
There's a lot of success in that.
There's a lot of hard work. We just glorify weddings because
of how big the scale is. So my business grew very big
very quickly and it was quite successful within like a two
year period. And then I felt the yearn within
myself as a creative, like I just need to do weddings.

(01:25:00):
I always loved weddings. So then I started like freeling,
like kind of doing, I did some weddings, like on my own, like
first single shooting weddings, people asked and then I was
freelancing out. And then I worked with Henrik.
Henrik, he just aligned. I think he was looking for a
shooter at the time where he wasn't.
And I reached out. I can't remember exactly the

(01:25:21):
initial like conversation, but then at the same time working
with him, other studios that were wedding studios were
poaching me and like kind of in the DMS like, hey, would you
work for us? And I was and then it was like
didn't feel right. I felt confused in the market
because everyone shoots technicality wise different.

(01:25:42):
Some photographers like their shooters to shoot more ambient.
Henrik loved a lot of flash. Henrik was quite strict about
his like kind of shooters. We were very uniformed and
trained and he had to be this white violence had to be kind of
decent for these environments, which I loved because he kind of
told me a lot. But when it came to a personal
stage of growth where I was likedating Alexia and we were

(01:26:04):
getting engaged and getting married, I was like, I'm just so
ready to, to do this on my own. I everyone was telling me for a
very long time, but I just didn't believe him.
But then when like the, the feeling hit me, I was like, I'm
actually ready to take on the responsibility.
And that's what it came down to.I was just scared to take the
responsibility on, to be honest.He feels very safe working in

(01:26:27):
working for someone. It's quite easy, right?
You're not sitting on the admin,You're not taking the invoicing.
You're not worried about the finances.
You're not, you know, paying your taxes the way a business
pays their taxes. Editing.
I wasn't editing like, like I will actually a lie.
I was editing for him, but I wasn't editing like the volume.
I was editing. Yeah, of course.

(01:26:47):
Right. So when I got it, I think it was
when I got engaged, I said to him, it's a big story.
Long story short, we got into anexclusive contract because so
many studios were out there. And I actually offered the
contract to two studios, Henrik and someone else.
And I said this is kind of the the basis of my work.

(01:27:09):
I want this, right? I want the images, I want to own
them, to use them, but it's onlygoing to last for 2 1/2 years or
whatever it was. I said by this date, I think it
was like the 31st of December 2021 or 2020, whatever it was,
I'm out, I'm doing it on my own.I'm giving you guys the heads

(01:27:29):
up. And Henrik was like, absolutely.
And he trusted in me and it was mutually mutual.
So every wedding I got an inquiry, went to him, he
funnelled that way. Well, does that make sense?
But the plan was always to open up my own wedding studio and he
was aware of it from they dot like it was literally
contractual. Yeah.
OK. Well, that's interesting.

(01:27:50):
Does that explain that? Yeah, it does.
But the big thing was that I wanted the images, which was
hard for some people to digest. And Henrik was like, no, it's so
fine. If you shot it, you can have it.
Yeah, that's so amazing that he allowed you to do that.
Yeah. Because, you know, I know with
us, we definitely don't allow Ashley to suppose the photos,
but the fact that he felt so secure and comfortable with that

(01:28:11):
was that's beautiful. I have a lot to owe to like
that. He trusted in me a lot, yeah.
He's a vibe. He's a.
Vibe, I like him. I might end off with the
question from our guest before you.
Are you ready? Jade, you can go for this first.
Melissa asked Melissa Bloomsby Elle was here before you and I

(01:28:31):
asked her to ask you a question and she said what is your
greatest fear? Can we make in life or business
related in life? I can answer that very easily.
My greatest fear is not being able to give my kids everything
and my all being a business on it so hard because we work

(01:28:53):
weekends and I just want to be there for every last moment.
And I'm scared that we may get so caught up.
And you know, an emotion is still growing, right?
It's still like a baby, even though I've been doing this for
17 years, I still feel like it'sa baby that's constantly growing
and evolving. And you know, we have, we have

(01:29:15):
spoken numerous times about living in Europe for six months,
shooting weddings there and thencoming back.
And in the at the moment, we also have talks of homeschooling
our children because we want to live that dream.
But I hope we can still give them everything as well as
living our dream, but also be able to give them everything.

(01:29:35):
And that's, that's that's scary for me.
Yeah. I'm scared.
I'm scared. I don't know what to expect, you
know I don't. Think you're going to manage
that? Or I hope, How are you managing
it? We have an amazing support at
home with our family and that helps a lot.
But obviously if we're going to live in Europe that's going to
go out the window. But I think it's something with,

(01:29:59):
it's in the talks we're discussing and we'd have to just
take my mum with us. We've spoken to her about it and
she said, look, I'm I'm happy tocome for the ride with you guys.
So that's. She babysits our children when
we travel, but that's yeah, that's something that in the
talks. Yeah.
See what's your. Greatest fear in life?

(01:30:22):
My greatest fear is if, if one day if I can't provide for my
family. Obviously what we do now, we're
so blessed, you know, we make a decent income from it.
And my biggest fear is if I everhad to say sorry we can't do

(01:30:43):
this, or sorry we can't do that,or I can't provide today.
And I guess that's where that always crosses my mind.
I never want to be that person that I come home and I'm kind of
like, no, we can't do this today.
Yeah, no, I can't. We're kind of shutting.
We're shutting shop. That's my biggest fear.

(01:31:05):
And I feel like I don't ever, not that I ever grew up.
We grew up not really having much.
So I'm happy to go back to living to that.
It's nothing new to us. We've worked hard for everything
that we've had. And I feel like I just want to
have. I just want to give the best
experience to my family. Yeah.

(01:31:26):
And I feel like I just don't want to be that.
I just don't want to be that father that comes home or a
husband that comes home. And it's kind of like, you know,
I'm, I'm unable to provide this today.
So I feel like that's a massive thing for me.
George, can we ask you that question?
No, because you have a family too.
I can't ask me that question. My biggest fee.
I hate that question. My biggest fee is loss.

(01:31:49):
Yeah. It's like losing someone.
Yeah. That's my greatest fear in life.
I think it'll always be my greatest fear in life.
My biggest fee is my mum and my dad.
Yeah, I don't want to ever face that day.
Yeah, but that's my greatest. Mum.
I fear that day and I don't think I'll ever ever comment and
that's why I fear it. But just anyone in general, like

(01:32:10):
I don't ever like I. I struggle with the thought of
not having my loved ones physically around me.
Like I like to have them in armsreach.
It's like my safe space, my wife, my kids, my parents, my
siblings. Like they get me through life.
I can't do Monday to Sunday without them.
I hate you fastly. Sorry.

(01:32:31):
But I love you guys. I'm so honoured that you guys
were on this and I thank you so much.
I have a fucking tear in my eyes.
Stupid. How many fucking episodes I made
a cry on could have one like stupid positive social media
talk, Daniel. Like remind me with the next
guest is there's no more deep question.
But I love you guys so much. These are killing it.

(01:32:54):
You should be so proud. We're all ready for you because
this is just fucking phenomenal.These are such a powerhouse.
It's inspiring, honestly. Thanks man.
And I'm just on for the friendship we have.
I'm honest for the chats we have.
I know we see each other on the job.
I never work on the job. I've never.
Worked I. Don't think I ever will, right?
But you know, I love the days that we're working together and
I just I love like, you know, spending time with you both.

(01:33:15):
So thank you for taking. It's a great vibe.
Thank you for taking the time out.
And I used to have 3 little bubswaiting at home with your mother
in law taking care of them. But thank you for, you know,
spending the time and coming to the table and letting it
everything out. Thanks for having us.
Thanks for having us man. Just want to say one last thing.
This is the crew table, but there's no bread and butter on
the table, right? Guys, you know what?
We'll leave on this note. Harry has done my head in about

(01:33:38):
bread and butter, I swear. To beg on the crew table.
Tomorrow morning you are gonna have Baker's the Light at your
door. I swear to God, Baker's the
Light sponsored me. Please for the love of God.
When we rock up two weddings, wejust want bread and butter.
We just want bread. And no, that's.
All just you're asking for me. Is a love nail.
We just want the straight carbs.And butter.
Yeah, we're gonna keep going. And when I say that we're on the

(01:34:00):
crew table, I like, yeah, we'd better be better.
Butter munching, you know, thinking of the people and
thinking of the people. Very pleasant.
Can we let you know audio by now?
Yeah, It's nice to over here. Thanks, guys.
I love you all. Thanks, You're a legend show.
Me too.

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