Welcome to Think Biz Podcast Episode 4 - In this insightful episode, hosts Garrett Hammonds, a digital marketer, and Nolan, who helps people connect with timeless truths , sit down with the incredible photographer, Karen Bunch Karen shares her journey and unique approach to portrait photography, which began with a desire to capture her niece's true personality after a disappointing senior portrait experience. She emphasizes the importance of understanding her clients' personalities during consultations to choose locations and styles that make them shine.
Learn about the challenges Karen faced, including having to direct clients despite being non-confrontational, and the joys of capturing natural movement and genuine expressions. Karen reveals her love for editing, viewing it as where the art truly emerges, transforming images to direct the viewer's eye and highlight the subject's face. She creates "art from the faces that you love", even using her painting background to inform her Photoshop techniques.
The conversation also explores important business insights, such as the value of learning where to niche and the critical role of a CRM in staying connected with clients.
Gain perspective on how AI is impacting photography; Karen explains how she uses it for enhancement to uphold dignity and authenticity, ensuring portraits look like the real person rather than appearing "unreal".
Most profoundly, Karen discusses the bigger purpose behind Bunches of Joy Photography. Tune in to hear how Karen combines technical skill, artistic vision, and a deep-seated purpose to create impactful portraits that help people feel beautiful and seen.
Find Karen Bunch:
- Website: Bunchesofjoyphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bunchesofjoyphotography/
- Phone: 405-400-0353
// Thank you for listening to the show!
Check us out at:
- https://www.thinkbiz.solutions
- https://youtube.com/@thinkbiz.solutions
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/thinkbizsolutions
- https://www.facebook.com/thinkBiz.s
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Podcast is produced by Hammonds Media. For assistance with you digital marketing needs, visit https://www.hammondsmedia.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
Is
SPEAKER_01 (00:05):
this you?
This is kind of the whole pointof the nice, easy podcast, is so
we can just press recordwhenever we want.
What?
And that is kind of the wholepoint.
Oh, we're recording?
We are recording right now.
That's what's going on.
That's what's happening rightnow.
Good morning, everyone.
(00:25):
Welcome to the Think Bizpodcast.
We're on episode four.
Oh, my goodness.
Four episodes.
We've passed the percentagepoint of most podcast failure.
As long as we got one or twoepisodes out, we're going to be
fine.
That's right.
And man, it is an absolutepleasure today.
We have Karen Bunch with us, whois an incredible photographer.
(00:50):
And we're going to talk aboutsome of the different
photography styles that she'sdone.
But welcome.
We're happy to have you.
SPEAKER_00 (00:57):
Thank you.
This is going to be a lot offun.
SPEAKER_01 (00:59):
It is a lot of fun.
And it's a fun week, too.
Our space weather is great.
So if there's any networking,anybody listening needs to do
Wednesday through Thursday.
It's a great time for sendingthose emails and calling
everybody that you're puttingoff calling this week.
So Wednesday, Thursday, givethem a call.
It'll be worth it.
Absolutely.
And as always, I'm GarrettHammons.
(01:20):
I am a digital marketer and Iown a digital marketing agency
called Hammons Media.
And my incredible co-host andNolan, tell us a little bit
about yourself.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mostly I pray for people usingreally old words out of really
old books that most people haveforgotten about.
And I teach people Sunday schoollessons that they needed to hear
(01:42):
when they were six, when they'rewhatever age they are now.
But that's me.
And now we are so happy to haveMiss Karen.
Lovely presentation today.
We got to see Shadow's Butt,your lovely, lovely dog that
started it all very early on.
But we usually tend to askpeople, where did your business
kind of start?
What problem did it actuallysolve for you apart from people
(02:03):
wanting to see more pictures ofyour dog's butt?
SPEAKER_00 (02:05):
People want to see more pictures of my dog's butt.
It started with the knees.
saying that she didn't like hersenior portraits that had been
done in Colorado Springs.
But when I looked at them, therewas two problems.
One is they had a teenage girlin a white shirt.
And white's a hard color tophotograph.
It's especially hard.
White, red, black.
(02:26):
It's hard for teenagers to wear.
They're very stark colors.
They will pronounce any pimples,anything that they have.
It's just not a good color thatI recommend.
A lot of people love them.
I work with it if they do wantto wear that.
But between the white shirt andthey really missed her
personality.
They put her in an urbansetting.
This child now in college hasgone to Iceland and studied
(02:49):
icebergs and polar bears.
Oh, wow.
So totally missed herpersonality, putting her in a
hat and having her kick herlittle foot up and act like a
city girl.
SPEAKER_02 (02:58):
Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00 (02:59):
I took her out to a park, put her amongst the
leaves, had her lay down, justplaying the leaves for a little
bit, took some portraits, and wegot pictures that she liked.
But it was just knowing herpersonality and taking time.
And I often, before I meet withsomebody for portraits, I do a
consultation call with them orI'll meet with them for coffee
and just try to get to know, youknow, who are you?
(03:22):
And if you're a rough person,let's go to...
Martin Nature Park.
If you're a flower person, thenWill Rogers or Myriad Gardens or
your home body, I'll come toyour house.
But what is the personality ofthe people I'm taking portraits
of?
and let that shine.
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
Perfect.
And it really came through inthe portrait of your niece that
you showed.
The tones were so warm.
It matched her smile.
Everything was just perfectlycomposed.
The eye didn't rest on anythingextraneous.
It was awesome.
I really enjoyed it.
That's the one bad thing aboutbeing a podcast right now is
that it's all audio.
And oh my goodness, we're goingto have to have some links to
(04:00):
Karen's photography because thevisual piece, that's her thing.
So we'll definitely link that inthe show notes so Thank you.
(04:21):
how a business you know reallywhat it looks like at the early
stages in photography it's sucha different business and you
know you're not thinking of ofuh you know somebody on on you
know wall street or somethinglike that it's it's it's all
people-based
SPEAKER_00 (04:37):
it's all people-based yes
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
so
SPEAKER_00 (04:40):
and i really thought that people would just call me
and oh hey we want pictures byyou but so learning to reach out
to others has been a challengeas a photographer and then the
other challenge i've is I'm verynon-confrontational and that's
not always a good thing becausesometimes I have to tell people
I need you to move I need you todo this I need you and I have to
(05:03):
take control of the situation sothat's been a learning curve for
me for photography becausethat's not something you think
about When I've got to posesomebody and I need you to stay
still in this way, or if I'mletting them move and trying to
catch the personality, that theydon't stop, that they keep
moving for me.
Yeah.
In my studio, I had ladies whowould play Glenn Miller songs
(05:23):
and let them dance, and I wouldtake pictures of them dancing.
It was so fun.
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
That's a great idea, having kind of the natural
movement from music coming in.
That's really cool.
Breaks the tension.
I know I still have problemsreally directing my clients when
they're not really sure what todo or they're just in wrong
position internally.
And so the process doesn't goaway just yet.
But has there ever actually beenany problem where you've had to
(05:50):
tell a client what to do andthey just wouldn't budge,
wouldn't listen, and they werereally difficult to work with?
SPEAKER_00 (05:57):
That does happen.
I'm trying to think of acircumstance.
I usually realize that I'm goingagainst their personality if I'm
saying something like that.
So instead of having themchange, I have to change what
I'm looking for.
And so I have to look at whatare they doing, what are they
showing me, and then adjust andtry to catch pictures.
(06:20):
A lot of times that's littlebitty kids though, too.
Taking pictures of little bittykids and you just keep shooting
the camera until you capturethat picture that's like, that
is the one.
And digital, I don't care howmany pictures I shoot, I'm only
going to edit the best.
And those are the only ones thatare coming off my computer.
SPEAKER_01 (06:40):
That's really fun.
So it then is kind of thequestion of that personality
that you're trying to pick up onthat they're not really able to
communicate with anything otherthan their body and how they're
responding to the camera.
Is that something that you'velearned how to better pick up in
those consultations or is thisjust sometimes right in the
moment they're acting a certainway and that's actually the
(07:00):
truth of them?
SPEAKER_00 (07:01):
No, I'm looking for their smile in the consultation.
If I'm personal with them ordoing it in person then I'm
looking for what is theirnatural moves.
SPEAKER_01 (07:11):
So you're already taking pictures of them before
you even
SPEAKER_00 (07:14):
break the camera.
In my head, yes.
I'm already looking at them andI'm looking for what do I need
to pose?
What is maybe a movement thatthey're making that it's not
flattering to their personalityor to their, their body shape?
And how do I work with that?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
I remember, um, when my, my wife and I were taking
engagement pictures, my cousin'sphotographer, when I lived in
Texas, she, that was her weddingpresent to us was photography.
And, um, Bless her heart.
She, you know, she had me todeal with.
And so I don't envy you thatthat portion of your job, you
have to deal with the all thethe fidgety people like myself.
(07:58):
And but it's it was a lot of funwhenever we did it.
And so what's kind of the partsof the job that you love the
most?
SPEAKER_00 (08:07):
I do love taking pictures of people.
I just love capturing thepersonality.
But I also love editing, whichis a little weird.
A lot of photographers want todo only the photograph.
They don't want to edit.
But I see that editing is wherethe art comes out, where I can
change a background or I canenhance something.
I don't want to changeeverything completely usually,
but maybe darken the backgroundso that the people pop out of
(08:32):
it, do things that create art.
Because one of my lines is, Icreate art from the faces that
you love.
SPEAKER_01 (08:42):
And I definitely see that, especially between your
nature photography versus yourportraiture.
A lot of people's portraiture isjust static work.
This is the picture, we'removing on.
But what I notice about a lot ofyour portraits that you do,
especially with the women thatyou were really bringing out
their personality of, is youalmost edit things to where it
looks like they're in theirnatural habitat and environment.
(09:04):
You were saying in yourpresentation how it's almost
easier to capture pictures ofanimals or landscapes or
anything else and Makes perfectsense to me because that's where
it's supposed to be.
But in your portraiture, itreally looks like these people
are now in their natural habitatthat they may not actually get
to experience on a day-to-daybasis.
So I really love that about yourportraiture.
(09:25):
But is that kind of what younotice in your art process?
Or is there something elseyou're thinking of as you're
going through the editing?
SPEAKER_00 (09:31):
I studied painting both in acrylics since 1986.
So that teaches me how to directthe eye.
And that's a big part of it isdirecting the eye.
And as you said, the movement,trying to capture movement, but
giving the eye the rest is onthe face of the person.
But also the painting inPhotoshop helps me with a lot of
(09:52):
Photoshop techniques to bringthe attention to the person from
the background to the people.
So a lot of times we'll talk topeople about letting their face
be the brightest thing on thecamera.
Or opposite, maybe I'll use awhite background for someone
with really dark skin, butletting their face be a standout
(10:12):
point of the portrait becausethat's what you're wanting to
get a portrait of.
SPEAKER_01 (10:16):
Is there anything you notice in conversation or in
that rapport that you build withclients that actually allows
them to let their face be alittle brighter and lighter and
at ease?
SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
Getting them to laugh somehow.
Sometimes it's just talking tothem and getting them to tell
stories.
A lot of times withgrandparents, I'll ask them to
tell me about theirgrandchildren.
Or I would ask you to tell meabout your daughter.
And that's when you drop thefacade of I'm the big bad
business person and I'm doingthis, this.
And you see Nolan come out.
Or I would see Garrett come outas I ask him about Grace or
(10:51):
about Rock Climbers, stuff likethat.
I try to learn something thatgets them to talking.
And I'll let them talk for aminute.
And then I may say, okay, let'sdo your portrait now.
SPEAKER_01 (11:00):
Nolan, I find that if you just yell, fix your face.
It just works every time.
SPEAKER_00 (11:08):
Mine is chin down, chin down, come on, chin down.
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (11:11):
yeah.
No, it was so annoying learningmodeling for some stuff doing in
high school and college of justthe, yep, that turtleneck,
that's what's needed.
That turtle, yeah.
You shut that head forward.
It may feel odd, but just do it.
SPEAKER_00 (11:23):
It makes a whole difference.
And I try to never shoot up onsomeone that's, past their
teenage years to not try tocapture that throat because
that's not the part of the faceyou want to see.
And invariably, I have a lot ofyoung men who, and my own
grandsons, stick their nose upin the air because that's
showing I'm proud to be me andthat's wonderful, but I need
(11:46):
your nose down.
SPEAKER_01 (11:47):
Yeah.
And I'm sorry, I can't let usjust go right past it.
Anybody else?
Karen, did you notice that Nolanjust...
subtly dropped he was a model in
SPEAKER_00 (11:58):
high school.
Oh, yes, yes.
And I had to take a portrait ofhim, so, you know, it's coming.
SPEAKER_01 (12:03):
It is coming at some point.
I need new artsy pictures.
I just need better costumes.
I need better stuff to wear.
SPEAKER_00 (12:08):
You know, I have costumes for ladies, but I don't
really think I have anything fora man unless I can talk Mike
into loaning out his hat.
SPEAKER_01 (12:17):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:21):
No, I would never ask another man to loan out a
hat.
(12:47):
And we've done portraits thatway.
I've had people wear theirmother's hat, their mother's
glove, bring in their mother'spicture.
And this was a lady in her 70s,and she was trying to give
tribute to her mom with theportraits.
So I've done a lot of that.
And, of course, the painting inPhotoshop, a lot of times those
are bereavement paintings.
(13:08):
I'm trying to get a picture ofsomebody bereaved.
But maybe they were hooked up tooxygen, or maybe they just
didn't look like themselves.
And this was the last portraitthe person had taken on their
phone.
Or a lot of times it's a pet, abeloved pet that's passed on,
and now they really wantsomething to memorialize them
with.
And I paint in Photoshop and tryto bring art for that, too, so
(13:30):
that I can do paintings.
Or pictures, portraits, eitherway.
SPEAKER_01 (13:33):
Well, and that's something that a lot of people
forget about art.
I have to go over with myclients a whole lot as to how
the key route to most of theirproblems is their environment
isn't beautiful enough.
SPEAKER_02 (13:43):
And
SPEAKER_01 (13:44):
they don't actually look at things that bring them
joy and peace and ease.
Like it just rolls theirshoulder backs and they take a
nice big belly breath.
And these types of portraitsthat you do are really important
for that.
SPEAKER_00 (13:57):
I believe in printing and having wall art
because what you have on yourwall speaks to your values.
And what do you value more thanyour daughter?
Exactly.
And it also helps the kids withtheir self-esteem because they
look and they know in thatportrait they had fun.
They were experiencing love fromthe parents or from their
family.
(14:17):
It's just a win-win to haveportraits printed and on the
wall.
SPEAKER_01 (14:23):
Exactly.
I think that's a big point foranybody's personal life or their
professional life is that theenvironment that you create for
yourself, it makes...
a big difference.
I mean, from a businessperspective, even like retaining
employees, if you're havingsomebody that walks into an
(14:43):
office every day and it's It's abig deal.
It's a big deal.
(15:05):
So much so.
And that kind of then is thequestion a lot of times people,
whenever they're coming in for aportraiture session and they
already know you're going to doa digital background or anything
else, what do you do to get themin the headspace apart from the
dancing and you know how to kindof make them smile or laugh?
Is there anything that they needto know you're doing behind the
camera to really make sure thatyou're getting the best shot?
(15:26):
A
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
lot of times I'll let them see what I've taken so
that then the next shot that Ifthey know they want to do
something different, that'sfine.
or if they want to continue justlike it is.
But a lot of photographers don'tbelieve in letting people see
the back of the camera, and I'mlike, no, I'll show you.
I also make the promise that ifthat picture is going to
embarrass them, it will not comeoff my computer, that I just
(15:50):
believe in events or anything.
I try to take pictures wherepeople are not eating.
SPEAKER_02 (15:56):
I've got
SPEAKER_00 (15:58):
to be conscious of what's going on, even though I
may be photographing one person,to make sure that the people
around them are not going to beembarrassed by what's going on.
And I think that's important touphold their dignity.
SPEAKER_01 (16:10):
Yes.
And it's really important tohear on the back side as well.
Because picture taking, eventhough I've had it done a lot of
times, I still am not comfy withit.
Especially depending upon theattitude of the photographer or
the artist.
It's just really important forpeople to know that Karen has so
much investment in making surethat they feel their best.
SPEAKER_00 (16:30):
Yeah.
I'm going to show people howbeautiful they are.
That is just...
Everything in photography withpeople for me is everyone is
beautiful.
You just have to get to know andsee that beauty.
And if I can make them feelbeautiful, I have won the day.
SPEAKER_01 (16:43):
And you do win on a very regular basis.
Excellent.
Follow Karen at Bunches of JoyPhotography.
Oh, man.
I'm telling you.
The audio can't do the picturesjustice.
Go check it out.
I will say I have the oppositegoal when I take pictures of
people.
I want them to feel asembarrassed as possible.
(17:04):
No, but it's always interesting,too, for us to just learn about,
you know, so many of ourlisteners are going to be
business owners and they'relooking for...
experts like you and how youstarted off to where you are
now.
(17:25):
What's kind of the business winsor even challenges that you've
come across along the way to beable to be the successful
photographer that you are?
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
Learning where to niche because As a photographer,
you always want to take pride inI can take pictures everywhere.
Well, that's not true.
I do have spaces where I say no,that this is not where I belong
in taking a portrait.
But letting people know thatalthough my niche may be ladies
(17:55):
and having them dance in frontof the camera, that that's
storytelling and I can bring toa business storytelling also
because that's what's importantto a business, emotion sells.
So I want to bring storytellingto their branding and I want to
show that this is an office thatcares.
And so just learning how to putthat out because we're taught as
(18:16):
photographers, niche down, nichedown, niche down.
Only tell them about one thing.
And I look at it, and I waslike, well, I've missed a lot of
photography opportunitiesbecause everybody only
associated me as photographingwomen.
It's like, oh, no.
I have limitations, yes.
I take very small weddingsbecause weddings, as a young
beginning photographer, sportfor most.
(18:37):
Some people keep it up all theirlives, and they love it, and
that's great.
But I'm like, eh, small wedding,thank you.
No infants because I don't wantto wrap them.
I'm not comfortable with thewrapping.
I'm comfortable with the motheror the father holding the baby
and taking a portrait.
So I need to be honest abouthere's what I can do, here's
what I can't.
(18:58):
But just let people know that,yes, I can do your photography
and I will talk to you and Iwill visit about what your needs
are.
SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
You also mentioned...
during the presentation that theCRM would have been a game
changer early on.
Is that mostly because ofkeeping track of what different
people mentioned or talked aboutas far as what they needed
photography-wise, or what didthat change in your business
process?
SPEAKER_00 (19:21):
I think I expected that if I did your pictures
once, you would call me back,that I didn't need to keep touch
because...
I'm a very loyal person.
So once I do business, I usuallystay.
It's very rare.
I stayed with the samehairdresser for almost 20 years.
So I was just expecting that.
(19:42):
And you get forgotten.
I mean, even if it's your bestfriend, they forget that, hey,
this is what you do.
Because that's not how I go outwhen I'm being friends.
And so just keeping track ofpeople.
SPEAKER_01 (19:54):
And it's tough.
It's tough for any business.
I've worked with companiesbefore where they've gotten a
lead in from Tesla and they lostit because the sales team didn't
follow up correctly.
If you're not keeping track andstay on top of mind, man, it'll
(20:16):
get away from you faster thananything.
Yes.
That resonates with me at least.
I had to swallow my own crow alot of the time and realize that
I'm not in the business of tarotor spirituality or astrology.
(20:38):
I'm in the business of churchand people need to be reminded
that there's this thing theyneed on a regular basis.
And so for you, it's reallyimportant for people to
understand.
It's like, you need more beautyin your life.
And when you don't have theskills to capture it, like Karen
does, she truly does.
And you've got to make sure thateven if we've got our tech and
(20:59):
everything else, please, please,prioritize yourself enough to
know that, Hey, I might needsome new photos taken or, Hey,
there's something that'shappened recently that I need
captured.
Yeah.
One thing that's reallyinteresting to me.
And, um, you know, we, wementioned a couple of different,
different times.
You maybe have heard on previousepisodes that there's a
(21:20):
presentation that happens duringa, you know, networking group
that we have here at project3810, um, Karen was the
presenter today, and one of thequestions top of mind for me
with any kind of photography isAI.
AI is just in every industryeverywhere, and it's certainly
(21:41):
in the photography field.
But you had some really coolways that AI wasn't taking away
from what you were doing, but itwas actually adding
SPEAKER_00 (21:49):
to.
It adds to.
SPEAKER_01 (21:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:51):
For those who think they're going to get an AI
headshot by putting their cellphone in, it will leave 20% of
who you are will be different.
Every AI picture is absolutelydifferent.
That's creative AI.
So those closest to you aregoing to know that is not your
portrait.
But AI can be used to, I think,remove that under the chin when
(22:14):
you've got some...
what dare we call it, fluffthere.
It can remove a lot of that.
It can remove the excesswrinkles that the camera
introduces because the cameraflattens from 3D to 2D, makes
those wrinkles more apparent,and AI takes those out I have to
back it up because it will takea 60-year-old and make them look
35.
I need
SPEAKER_02 (22:34):
to
SPEAKER_00 (22:35):
back it up to maybe 50.
I want people to look beautifuland to be enhanced.
I don't want them to lookunreal.
And especially on a businessportrait, I don't want anyone
asking, when was that taken?
Because your business portraitneeds to be very sincere.
People need to be able to trustyou.
And if you're showing up with abusiness portrait that's years
(22:56):
old and it doesn't look like youor they know it, you've
automatically got a little markthere.
So I'm like, let's do somebusiness portraits.
Robert's company used me to comein and do business portraits of
all his painters so that hecould email it out to the
homeowners and they know who wascoming into their house.
Now that was a little differentbecause I didn't do a whole lot
(23:18):
of AI on those.
I let the picture pretty muchbe, this is who it is so that
there was no question.
I just, just touched a littlebit.
SPEAKER_01 (23:27):
Yeah.
And if, if, uh, You haven'twatched episode two?
Was it episode two when we hadRobert?
We had Robert on.
He had a great episode two.
And so Karen did all theheadshot photography for that
branch of Serta Pro Painters.
And she's done headshotphotography for me as well.
(23:49):
So she has just a tremendousamount of experience in this.
I think one of the...
things going on right now withAI is that we just have become
over reliant on it.
And it's, it's so important toremember we as human beings want
(24:10):
to relate to the human parts ofothers.
And, you know, that's very clearas, as a presence inside of what
you do.
SPEAKER_00 (24:19):
I want people to be seen for the beauty that they
are.
SPEAKER_01 (24:23):
Well, and I think there's, I'll have a slight bit
of disagreement there oneverybody overuses AI because a
lot of my favorite comic bookartists or anything else is all
these digital tools startedcoming out and people would
start criticizing them.
Oh, you're moving over todigital.
And it was like, okay, here's myiPad.
Draw me a horse.
And the change in technologydoesn't change artistry.
(24:47):
and the techniques that arebehind it.
I went through the Oklahoma CityArts Festival just this weekend,
and there was only three artiststhat I personally wanted to buy
from, and there were only aboutsix to ten that i'm going to be
able to recommend to otherclients as far as what they use
and some of them use digital artsome of them were still
traditional media sure but it'sone of those things of the the
(25:10):
core of artistry is what karenreally gets in all of her work
and so i would trust any amountof new ai technology in her
hands because she knows how tomake beauty happen regardless of
the thing that's in in her handsyeah and i think that's kind of
other the the other problem thatyou're noticing with everybody
overusing ai is they don'tactually have a bigger
(25:30):
overarching goal.
They might just be using it todo a get-rich-quick scheme or
just not have to think about aproblem that really needs to be
mulled over a little bit more.
But it also just doesn't serve abigger purpose for most people
and their businesses.
And so that's kind of thecuriosity, Karen, is you've got
your business, you love doingphotography.
Does Bunches of Joy Photographyserve any bigger purpose for
(25:53):
you?
SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Yes.
Yes.
I want to let people know thatGod loves them.
Just like you said, church, Ihave prayed over I don't know
how many clients.
I've also prayed over people whohave called in.
I didn't know why they werecalling, but they certainly
portraits was not in theirbudget.
And that wasn't the reason fortheir call.
But I've got to pray with thoseladies.
(26:17):
I have prayed with ladies whowere trying to leave their
husbands and they're like, Idon't know why.
But I'm connected with beautifulrestoration, which does help
broken people to be restored.
So I have found that sometimes Ihave to question beyond the
photography, what are yourneeds?
Just like you're doing andsaying, okay, I can recommend a
(26:40):
ministry.
I can recommend church orchurches.
I don't think that one churchstands alone for everybody.
And I can pray with you, and Iwill certainly show you the love
of Jesus.
And so Bunches of JoyPhotography is also a ministry
of sorts.
SPEAKER_01 (26:56):
Excellent.
Well, that's wonderful to hear.
And people really do.
That's why we love this podcastis it helps get people to
understand those purposes behindeverybody's business.
And so I'm really glad to hearthat you're able to do that for
your clients, even if they don'tpurchase from you.
They're at least able to come toKaren for whatever their actual
needs are in that moment.
SPEAKER_00 (27:14):
I'm not worried about whether they purchase.
God's going to take care of myneeds.
But it's how is he going to useme to help them?
SPEAKER_01 (27:20):
That's perfect.
Yeah.
And it's just like.
Just like Noah was saying there,purpose in what we do, you know,
if you want to have a long-termsustainable business, you have
to be purposeful.
SPEAKER_00 (27:36):
You have to have a why.
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
You have to have a why.
And, you know, that's key is ifyou ever find yourself just, you
know, on the grind and justworking and you, you're not
enjoying what you're doing andyou're, you know, it may, it may
not be that you're doing thewrong thing, but that you're
doing it in the wrong way.
SPEAKER_00 (27:56):
Or you just forgot why.
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
Or you forgot the why.
SPEAKER_00 (27:58):
You forgot momentarily why.
SPEAKER_01 (28:00):
Yeah.
We always have to remindourselves of why we're doing it.
Even if we don't like doingsomething, it may be the right
thing for the right purpose.
You know, Or we may love everymoment of it, you know.
But it all comes together whenwe have that bigger picture in
mind.
Most definitely.
(28:21):
And we love that Karen literallytakes those bigger pictures for
us for
SPEAKER_00 (28:25):
the most part.
I like to print big.
SPEAKER_01 (28:26):
We don't want to keep you too much longer, Karen,
on this nice little drizzly daythat might have some good
lighting for you.
Is there anywhere else thatpeople need to go to find you?
SP (28:35):
Benchesofjoyphotography.com.
I'm on LinkedIn asKarenReading-Bench.
Benches of Joy has a Facebookpage, also an Instagram,
although I admit I'm much moreproficient at Facebook and
LinkedIn.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
Perfect.
And is there any number theyneed to call you if they need to
schedule something immediatelyafter hearing the
SPEAKER_00 (28:57):
podcast?
405-400-0353.
Excellent.
SPEAKER_01 (29:02):
Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been a
wonderful episode four withGarrett, Karen, and myself.
As always, we've got to have oursign off here.
So we need to stay sharp.
SPEAKER_00 (29:13):
Think biz.
Is
SPEAKER_01 (00:05):
this you?
This is kind of the whole pointof the nice, easy podcast, is so
we can just press recordwhenever we want.
What?
And that is kind of the wholepoint.
Oh, we're recording?
We are recording right now.
That's what's going on.
That's what's happening rightnow.
Good morning, everyone.
(00:25):
Welcome to the Think Bizpodcast.
We're on episode four.
Oh, my goodness.
Four episodes.
We've passed the percentagepoint of most podcast failure.
As long as we got one or twoepisodes out, we're going to be
fine.
That's right.
And man, it is an absolutepleasure today.
We have Karen Bunch with us, whois an incredible photographer.
(00:50):
And we're going to talk aboutsome of the different
photography styles that she'sdone.
But welcome.
We're happy to have you.
SPEAKER_00 (00:57):
Thank you.
This is going to be a lot offun.
SPEAKER_01 (00:59):
It is a lot of fun.
And it's a fun week, too.
Our space weather is great.
So if there's any networking,anybody listening needs to do
Wednesday through Thursday.
It's a great time for sendingthose emails and calling
everybody that you're puttingoff calling this week.
So Wednesday, Thursday, givethem a call.
It'll be worth it.
Absolutely.
And as always, I'm GarrettHammons.
(01:20):
I am a digital marketer and Iown a digital marketing agency
called Hammons Media.
And my incredible co-host andNolan, tell us a little bit
about yourself.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mostly I pray for people usingreally old words out of really
old books that most people haveforgotten about.
And I teach people Sunday schoollessons that they needed to hear
(01:42):
when they were six, when they'rewhatever age they are now.
But that's me.
And now we are so happy to haveMiss Karen.
Lovely presentation today.
We got to see Shadow's Butt,your lovely, lovely dog that
started it all very early on.
But we usually tend to askpeople, where did your business
kind of start?
What problem did it actuallysolve for you apart from people
(02:03):
wanting to see more pictures ofyour dog's butt?
SPEAKER_00 (02:05):
People want to see more pictures of my dog's butt.
It started with the knees.
saying that she didn't like hersenior portraits that had been
done in Colorado Springs.
But when I looked at them, therewas two problems.
One is they had a teenage girlin a white shirt.
And white's a hard color tophotograph.
It's especially hard.
White, red, black.
(02:26):
It's hard for teenagers to wear.
They're very stark colors.
They will pronounce any pimples,anything that they have.
It's just not a good color thatI recommend.
A lot of people love them.
I work with it if they do wantto wear that.
But between the white shirt andthey really missed her
personality.
They put her in an urbansetting.
This child now in college hasgone to Iceland and studied
(02:49):
icebergs and polar bears.
Oh, wow.
So totally missed herpersonality, putting her in a
hat and having her kick herlittle foot up and act like a
city girl.
SPEAKER_02 (02:58):
Gotcha.
SPEAKER_00 (02:59):
I took her out to a park, put her amongst the
leaves, had her lay down, justplaying the leaves for a little
bit, took some portraits, and wegot pictures that she liked.
But it was just knowing herpersonality and taking time.
And I often, before I meet withsomebody for portraits, I do a
consultation call with them orI'll meet with them for coffee
and just try to get to know, youknow, who are you?
(03:22):
And if you're a rough person,let's go to...
Martin Nature Park.
If you're a flower person, thenWill Rogers or Myriad Gardens or
your home body, I'll come toyour house.
But what is the personality ofthe people I'm taking portraits
of?
and let that shine.
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
Perfect.
And it really came through inthe portrait of your niece that
you showed.
The tones were so warm.
It matched her smile.
Everything was just perfectlycomposed.
The eye didn't rest on anythingextraneous.
It was awesome.
I really enjoyed it.
That's the one bad thing aboutbeing a podcast right now is
that it's all audio.
And oh my goodness, we're goingto have to have some links to
(04:00):
Karen's photography because thevisual piece, that's her thing.
So we'll definitely link that inthe show notes so Thank you.
(04:21):
how a business you know reallywhat it looks like at the early
stages in photography it's sucha different business and you
know you're not thinking of ofuh you know somebody on on you
know wall street or somethinglike that it's it's it's all
people-based
SPEAKER_00 (04:37):
it's all people-based yes
SPEAKER_01 (04:39):
so
SPEAKER_00 (04:40):
and i really thought that people would just call me
and oh hey we want pictures byyou but so learning to reach out
to others has been a challengeas a photographer and then the
other challenge i've is I'm verynon-confrontational and that's
not always a good thing becausesometimes I have to tell people
I need you to move I need you todo this I need you and I have to
(05:03):
take control of the situation sothat's been a learning curve for
me for photography becausethat's not something you think
about When I've got to posesomebody and I need you to stay
still in this way, or if I'mletting them move and trying to
catch the personality, that theydon't stop, that they keep
moving for me.
Yeah.
In my studio, I had ladies whowould play Glenn Miller songs
(05:23):
and let them dance, and I wouldtake pictures of them dancing.
It was so fun.
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
That's a great idea, having kind of the natural
movement from music coming in.
That's really cool.
Breaks the tension.
I know I still have problemsreally directing my clients when
they're not really sure what todo or they're just in wrong
position internally.
And so the process doesn't goaway just yet.
But has there ever actually beenany problem where you've had to
(05:50):
tell a client what to do andthey just wouldn't budge,
wouldn't listen, and they werereally difficult to work with?
SPEAKER_00 (05:57):
That does happen.
I'm trying to think of acircumstance.
I usually realize that I'm goingagainst their personality if I'm
saying something like that.
So instead of having themchange, I have to change what
I'm looking for.
And so I have to look at whatare they doing, what are they
showing me, and then adjust andtry to catch pictures.
(06:20):
A lot of times that's littlebitty kids though, too.
Taking pictures of little bittykids and you just keep shooting
the camera until you capturethat picture that's like, that
is the one.
And digital, I don't care howmany pictures I shoot, I'm only
going to edit the best.
And those are the only ones thatare coming off my computer.
SPEAKER_01 (06:40):
That's really fun.
So it then is kind of thequestion of that personality
that you're trying to pick up onthat they're not really able to
communicate with anything otherthan their body and how they're
responding to the camera.
Is that something that you'velearned how to better pick up in
those consultations or is thisjust sometimes right in the
moment they're acting a certainway and that's actually the
(07:00):
truth of them?
SPEAKER_00 (07:01):
No, I'm looking for their smile in the consultation.
If I'm personal with them ordoing it in person then I'm
looking for what is theirnatural moves.
SPEAKER_01 (07:11):
So you're already taking pictures of them before
you even
SPEAKER_00 (07:14):
break the camera.
In my head, yes.
I'm already looking at them andI'm looking for what do I need
to pose?
What is maybe a movement thatthey're making that it's not
flattering to their personalityor to their, their body shape?
And how do I work with that?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (07:32):
I remember, um, when my, my wife and I were taking
engagement pictures, my cousin'sphotographer, when I lived in
Texas, she, that was her weddingpresent to us was photography.
And, um, Bless her heart.
She, you know, she had me todeal with.
And so I don't envy you thatthat portion of your job, you
have to deal with the all thethe fidgety people like myself.
(07:58):
And but it's it was a lot of funwhenever we did it.
And so what's kind of the partsof the job that you love the
most?
SPEAKER_00 (08:07):
I do love taking pictures of people.
I just love capturing thepersonality.
But I also love editing, whichis a little weird.
A lot of photographers want todo only the photograph.
They don't want to edit.
But I see that editing is wherethe art comes out, where I can
change a background or I canenhance something.
I don't want to changeeverything completely usually,
but maybe darken the backgroundso that the people pop out of
(08:32):
it, do things that create art.
Because one of my lines is, Icreate art from the faces that
you love.
SPEAKER_01 (08:42):
And I definitely see that, especially between your
nature photography versus yourportraiture.
A lot of people's portraiture isjust static work.
This is the picture, we'removing on.
But what I notice about a lot ofyour portraits that you do,
especially with the women thatyou were really bringing out
their personality of, is youalmost edit things to where it
looks like they're in theirnatural habitat and environment.
(09:04):
You were saying in yourpresentation how it's almost
easier to capture pictures ofanimals or landscapes or
anything else and Makes perfectsense to me because that's where
it's supposed to be.
But in your portraiture, itreally looks like these people
are now in their natural habitatthat they may not actually get
to experience on a day-to-daybasis.
So I really love that about yourportraiture.
(09:25):
But is that kind of what younotice in your art process?
Or is there something elseyou're thinking of as you're
going through the editing?
SPEAKER_00 (09:31):
I studied painting both in acrylics since 1986.
So that teaches me how to directthe eye.
And that's a big part of it isdirecting the eye.
And as you said, the movement,trying to capture movement, but
giving the eye the rest is onthe face of the person.
But also the painting inPhotoshop helps me with a lot of
(09:52):
Photoshop techniques to bringthe attention to the person from
the background to the people.
So a lot of times we'll talk topeople about letting their face
be the brightest thing on thecamera.
Or opposite, maybe I'll use awhite background for someone
with really dark skin, butletting their face be a standout
(10:12):
point of the portrait becausethat's what you're wanting to
get a portrait of.
SPEAKER_01 (10:16):
Is there anything you notice in conversation or in
that rapport that you build withclients that actually allows
them to let their face be alittle brighter and lighter and
at ease?
SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
Getting them to laugh somehow.
Sometimes it's just talking tothem and getting them to tell
stories.
A lot of times withgrandparents, I'll ask them to
tell me about theirgrandchildren.
Or I would ask you to tell meabout your daughter.
And that's when you drop thefacade of I'm the big bad
business person and I'm doingthis, this.
And you see Nolan come out.
Or I would see Garrett come outas I ask him about Grace or
(10:51):
about Rock Climbers, stuff likethat.
I try to learn something thatgets them to talking.
And I'll let them talk for aminute.
And then I may say, okay, let'sdo your portrait now.
SPEAKER_01 (11:00):
Nolan, I find that if you just yell, fix your face.
It just works every time.
SPEAKER_00 (11:08):
Mine is chin down, chin down, come on, chin down.
Oh,
SPEAKER_01 (11:11):
yeah.
No, it was so annoying learningmodeling for some stuff doing in
high school and college of justthe, yep, that turtleneck,
that's what's needed.
That turtle, yeah.
You shut that head forward.
It may feel odd, but just do it.
SPEAKER_00 (11:23):
It makes a whole difference.
And I try to never shoot up onsomeone that's, past their
teenage years to not try tocapture that throat because
that's not the part of the faceyou want to see.
And invariably, I have a lot ofyoung men who, and my own
grandsons, stick their nose upin the air because that's
showing I'm proud to be me andthat's wonderful, but I need
(11:46):
your nose down.
SPEAKER_01 (11:47):
Yeah.
And I'm sorry, I can't let usjust go right past it.
Anybody else?
Karen, did you notice that Nolanjust...
subtly dropped he was a model in
SPEAKER_00 (11:58):
high school.
Oh, yes, yes.
And I had to take a portrait ofhim, so, you know, it's coming.
SPEAKER_01 (12:03):
It is coming at some point.
I need new artsy pictures.
I just need better costumes.
I need better stuff to wear.
SPEAKER_00 (12:08):
You know, I have costumes for ladies, but I don't
really think I have anything fora man unless I can talk Mike
into loaning out his hat.
SPEAKER_01 (12:17):
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (12:21):
No, I would never ask another man to loan out a
hat.
(12:47):
And we've done portraits thatway.
I've had people wear theirmother's hat, their mother's
glove, bring in their mother'spicture.
And this was a lady in her 70s,and she was trying to give
tribute to her mom with theportraits.
So I've done a lot of that.
And, of course, the painting inPhotoshop, a lot of times those
are bereavement paintings.
(13:08):
I'm trying to get a picture ofsomebody bereaved.
But maybe they were hooked up tooxygen, or maybe they just
didn't look like themselves.
And this was the last portraitthe person had taken on their
phone.
Or a lot of times it's a pet, abeloved pet that's passed on,
and now they really wantsomething to memorialize them
with.
And I paint in Photoshop and tryto bring art for that, too, so
(13:30):
that I can do paintings.
Or pictures, portraits, eitherway.
SPEAKER_01 (13:33):
Well, and that's something that a lot of people
forget about art.
I have to go over with myclients a whole lot as to how
the key route to most of theirproblems is their environment
isn't beautiful enough.
SPEAKER_02 (13:43):
And
SPEAKER_01 (13:44):
they don't actually look at things that bring them
joy and peace and ease.
Like it just rolls theirshoulder backs and they take a
nice big belly breath.
And these types of portraitsthat you do are really important
for that.
SPEAKER_00 (13:57):
I believe in printing and having wall art
because what you have on yourwall speaks to your values.
And what do you value more thanyour daughter?
Exactly.
And it also helps the kids withtheir self-esteem because they
look and they know in thatportrait they had fun.
They were experiencing love fromthe parents or from their
family.
(14:17):
It's just a win-win to haveportraits printed and on the
wall.
SPEAKER_01 (14:23):
Exactly.
I think that's a big point foranybody's personal life or their
professional life is that theenvironment that you create for
yourself, it makes...
a big difference.
I mean, from a businessperspective, even like retaining
employees, if you're havingsomebody that walks into an
(14:43):
office every day and it's It's abig deal.
It's a big deal.
(15:05):
So much so.
And that kind of then is thequestion a lot of times people,
whenever they're coming in for aportraiture session and they
already know you're going to doa digital background or anything
else, what do you do to get themin the headspace apart from the
dancing and you know how to kindof make them smile or laugh?
Is there anything that they needto know you're doing behind the
camera to really make sure thatyou're getting the best shot?
(15:26):
A
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
lot of times I'll let them see what I've taken so
that then the next shot that Ifthey know they want to do
something different, that'sfine.
or if they want to continue justlike it is.
But a lot of photographers don'tbelieve in letting people see
the back of the camera, and I'mlike, no, I'll show you.
I also make the promise that ifthat picture is going to
embarrass them, it will not comeoff my computer, that I just
(15:50):
believe in events or anything.
I try to take pictures wherepeople are not eating.
SPEAKER_02 (15:56):
I've got
SPEAKER_00 (15:58):
to be conscious of what's going on, even though I
may be photographing one person,to make sure that the people
around them are not going to beembarrassed by what's going on.
And I think that's important touphold their dignity.
SPEAKER_01 (16:10):
Yes.
And it's really important tohear on the back side as well.
Because picture taking, eventhough I've had it done a lot of
times, I still am not comfy withit.
Especially depending upon theattitude of the photographer or
the artist.
It's just really important forpeople to know that Karen has so
much investment in making surethat they feel their best.
SPEAKER_00 (16:30):
Yeah.
I'm going to show people howbeautiful they are.
That is just...
Everything in photography withpeople for me is everyone is
beautiful.
You just have to get to know andsee that beauty.
And if I can make them feelbeautiful, I have won the day.
SPEAKER_01 (16:43):
And you do win on a very regular basis.
Excellent.
Follow Karen at Bunches of JoyPhotography.
Oh, man.
I'm telling you.
The audio can't do the picturesjustice.
Go check it out.
I will say I have the oppositegoal when I take pictures of
people.
I want them to feel asembarrassed as possible.
(17:04):
No, but it's always interesting,too, for us to just learn about,
you know, so many of ourlisteners are going to be
business owners and they'relooking for...
experts like you and how youstarted off to where you are
now.
(17:25):
What's kind of the business winsor even challenges that you've
come across along the way to beable to be the successful
photographer that you are?
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
Learning where to niche because As a photographer,
you always want to take pride inI can take pictures everywhere.
Well, that's not true.
I do have spaces where I say no,that this is not where I belong
in taking a portrait.
But letting people know thatalthough my niche may be ladies
(17:55):
and having them dance in frontof the camera, that that's
storytelling and I can bring toa business storytelling also
because that's what's importantto a business, emotion sells.
So I want to bring storytellingto their branding and I want to
show that this is an office thatcares.
And so just learning how to putthat out because we're taught as
(18:16):
photographers, niche down, nichedown, niche down.
Only tell them about one thing.
And I look at it, and I waslike, well, I've missed a lot of
photography opportunitiesbecause everybody only
associated me as photographingwomen.
It's like, oh, no.
I have limitations, yes.
I take very small weddingsbecause weddings, as a young
beginning photographer, sportfor most.
(18:37):
Some people keep it up all theirlives, and they love it, and
that's great.
But I'm like, eh, small wedding,thank you.
No infants because I don't wantto wrap them.
I'm not comfortable with thewrapping.
I'm comfortable with the motheror the father holding the baby
and taking a portrait.
So I need to be honest abouthere's what I can do, here's
what I can't.
(18:58):
But just let people know that,yes, I can do your photography
and I will talk to you and Iwill visit about what your needs
are.
SPEAKER_01 (19:04):
You also mentioned...
during the presentation that theCRM would have been a game
changer early on.
Is that mostly because ofkeeping track of what different
people mentioned or talked aboutas far as what they needed
photography-wise, or what didthat change in your business
process?
SPEAKER_00 (19:21):
I think I expected that if I did your pictures
once, you would call me back,that I didn't need to keep touch
because...
I'm a very loyal person.
So once I do business, I usuallystay.
It's very rare.
I stayed with the samehairdresser for almost 20 years.
So I was just expecting that.
(19:42):
And you get forgotten.
I mean, even if it's your bestfriend, they forget that, hey,
this is what you do.
Because that's not how I go outwhen I'm being friends.
And so just keeping track ofpeople.
SPEAKER_01 (19:54):
And it's tough.
It's tough for any business.
I've worked with companiesbefore where they've gotten a
lead in from Tesla and they lostit because the sales team didn't
follow up correctly.
If you're not keeping track andstay on top of mind, man, it'll
(20:16):
get away from you faster thananything.
Yes.
That resonates with me at least.
I had to swallow my own crow alot of the time and realize that
I'm not in the business of tarotor spirituality or astrology.
(20:38):
I'm in the business of churchand people need to be reminded
that there's this thing theyneed on a regular basis.
And so for you, it's reallyimportant for people to
understand.
It's like, you need more beautyin your life.
And when you don't have theskills to capture it, like Karen
does, she truly does.
And you've got to make sure thateven if we've got our tech and
(20:59):
everything else, please, please,prioritize yourself enough to
know that, Hey, I might needsome new photos taken or, Hey,
there's something that'shappened recently that I need
captured.
Yeah.
One thing that's reallyinteresting to me.
And, um, you know, we, wementioned a couple of different,
different times.
You maybe have heard on previousepisodes that there's a
(21:20):
presentation that happens duringa, you know, networking group
that we have here at project3810, um, Karen was the
presenter today, and one of thequestions top of mind for me
with any kind of photography isAI.
AI is just in every industryeverywhere, and it's certainly
(21:41):
in the photography field.
But you had some really coolways that AI wasn't taking away
from what you were doing, but itwas actually adding
SPEAKER_00 (21:49):
to.
It adds to.
SPEAKER_01 (21:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:51):
For those who think they're going to get an AI
headshot by putting their cellphone in, it will leave 20% of
who you are will be different.
Every AI picture is absolutelydifferent.
That's creative AI.
So those closest to you aregoing to know that is not your
portrait.
But AI can be used to, I think,remove that under the chin when
(22:14):
you've got some...
what dare we call it, fluffthere.
It can remove a lot of that.
It can remove the excesswrinkles that the camera
introduces because the cameraflattens from 3D to 2D, makes
those wrinkles more apparent,and AI takes those out I have to
back it up because it will takea 60-year-old and make them look
35.
I need
SPEAKER_02 (22:34):
to
SPEAKER_00 (22:35):
back it up to maybe 50.
I want people to look beautifuland to be enhanced.
I don't want them to lookunreal.
And especially on a businessportrait, I don't want anyone
asking, when was that taken?
Because your business portraitneeds to be very sincere.
People need to be able to trustyou.
And if you're showing up with abusiness portrait that's years
(22:56):
old and it doesn't look like youor they know it, you've
automatically got a little markthere.
So I'm like, let's do somebusiness portraits.
Robert's company used me to comein and do business portraits of
all his painters so that hecould email it out to the
homeowners and they know who wascoming into their house.
Now that was a little differentbecause I didn't do a whole lot
(23:18):
of AI on those.
I let the picture pretty muchbe, this is who it is so that
there was no question.
I just, just touched a littlebit.
SPEAKER_01 (23:27):
Yeah.
And if, if, uh, You haven'twatched episode two?
Was it episode two when we hadRobert?
We had Robert on.
He had a great episode two.
And so Karen did all theheadshot photography for that
branch of Serta Pro Painters.
And she's done headshotphotography for me as well.
(23:49):
So she has just a tremendousamount of experience in this.
I think one of the...
things going on right now withAI is that we just have become
over reliant on it.
And it's, it's so important toremember we as human beings want
(24:10):
to relate to the human parts ofothers.
And, you know, that's very clearas, as a presence inside of what
you do.
SPEAKER_00 (24:19):
I want people to be seen for the beauty that they
are.
SPEAKER_01 (24:23):
Well, and I think there's, I'll have a slight bit
of disagreement there oneverybody overuses AI because a
lot of my favorite comic bookartists or anything else is all
these digital tools startedcoming out and people would
start criticizing them.
Oh, you're moving over todigital.
And it was like, okay, here's myiPad.
Draw me a horse.
And the change in technologydoesn't change artistry.
(24:47):
and the techniques that arebehind it.
I went through the Oklahoma CityArts Festival just this weekend,
and there was only three artiststhat I personally wanted to buy
from, and there were only aboutsix to ten that i'm going to be
able to recommend to otherclients as far as what they use
and some of them use digital artsome of them were still
traditional media sure but it'sone of those things of the the
(25:10):
core of artistry is what karenreally gets in all of her work
and so i would trust any amountof new ai technology in her
hands because she knows how tomake beauty happen regardless of
the thing that's in in her handsyeah and i think that's kind of
other the the other problem thatyou're noticing with everybody
overusing ai is they don'tactually have a bigger
(25:30):
overarching goal.
They might just be using it todo a get-rich-quick scheme or
just not have to think about aproblem that really needs to be
mulled over a little bit more.
But it also just doesn't serve abigger purpose for most people
and their businesses.
And so that's kind of thecuriosity, Karen, is you've got
your business, you love doingphotography.
Does Bunches of Joy Photographyserve any bigger purpose for
(25:53):
you?
SPEAKER_00 (25:55):
Yes.
Yes.
I want to let people know thatGod loves them.
Just like you said, church, Ihave prayed over I don't know
how many clients.
I've also prayed over people whohave called in.
I didn't know why they werecalling, but they certainly
portraits was not in theirbudget.
And that wasn't the reason fortheir call.
But I've got to pray with thoseladies.
(26:17):
I have prayed with ladies whowere trying to leave their
husbands and they're like, Idon't know why.
But I'm connected with beautifulrestoration, which does help
broken people to be restored.
So I have found that sometimes Ihave to question beyond the
photography, what are yourneeds?
Just like you're doing andsaying, okay, I can recommend a
(26:40):
ministry.
I can recommend church orchurches.
I don't think that one churchstands alone for everybody.
And I can pray with you, and Iwill certainly show you the love
of Jesus.
And so Bunches of JoyPhotography is also a ministry
of sorts.
SPEAKER_01 (26:56):
Excellent.
Well, that's wonderful to hear.
And people really do.
That's why we love this podcastis it helps get people to
understand those purposes behindeverybody's business.
And so I'm really glad to hearthat you're able to do that for
your clients, even if they don'tpurchase from you.
They're at least able to come toKaren for whatever their actual
needs are in that moment.
SPEAKER_00 (27:14):
I'm not worried about whether they purchase.
God's going to take care of myneeds.
But it's how is he going to useme to help them?
SPEAKER_01 (27:20):
That's perfect.
Yeah.
And it's just like.
Just like Noah was saying there,purpose in what we do, you know,
if you want to have a long-termsustainable business, you have
to be purposeful.
SPEAKER_00 (27:36):
You have to have a why.
SPEAKER_01 (27:36):
You have to have a why.
And, you know, that's key is ifyou ever find yourself just, you
know, on the grind and justworking and you, you're not
enjoying what you're doing andyou're, you know, it may, it may
not be that you're doing thewrong thing, but that you're
doing it in the wrong way.
SPEAKER_00 (27:56):
Or you just forgot why.
SPEAKER_01 (27:57):
Or you forgot the why.
SPEAKER_00 (27:58):
You forgot momentarily why.
SPEAKER_01 (28:00):
Yeah.
We always have to remindourselves of why we're doing it.
Even if we don't like doingsomething, it may be the right
thing for the right purpose.
You know, Or we may love everymoment of it, you know.
But it all comes together whenwe have that bigger picture in
mind.
Most definitely.
(28:21):
And we love that Karen literallytakes those bigger pictures for
us for
SPEAKER_00 (28:25):
the most part.
I like to print big.
SPEAKER_01 (28:26):
We don't want to keep you too much longer, Karen,
on this nice little drizzly daythat might have some good
lighting for you.
Is there anywhere else thatpeople need to go to find you?
SP (28:35):
Benchesofjoyphotography.com.
I'm on LinkedIn asKarenReading-Bench.
Benches of Joy has a Facebookpage, also an Instagram,
although I admit I'm much moreproficient at Facebook and
LinkedIn.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
Perfect.
And is there any number theyneed to call you if they need to
schedule something immediatelyafter hearing the
SPEAKER_00 (28:57):
podcast?
405-400-0353.
Excellent.
SPEAKER_01 (29:02):
Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been a
wonderful episode four withGarrett, Karen, and myself.
As always, we've got to have oursign off here.
So we need to stay sharp.
SPEAKER_00 (29:13):
Think biz.
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