Micah - Mentor, Marketer, & Mama

For this blog, I thought I would try something new and talk about some of the awesome humans I get to meet and shoot along this adventure of life. I have been so blessed to work with so many badass, inspiring people who make photography even more fun for me. It definitely makes work feel more like play when I'm surrounded by people that help bring out my creativity, so I would like to uplift these people and give them a shout out!

Super Bowl Sunday, I was lucky enough to photograph someone who has been a significant role model to me, Micah, and her sweet little biscuit. Her little one is one year old and was an absolute treat to photograph, but more about that later!

I met Micah last semester in my marketing class. By meeting her in class, I mean that she was actually the professor, which is badass on its own! It is so rare to have a young, relatable female teacher in a university setting, and I definitely got lucky with this one! Micah specializes in teaching women business owners how to market themselves and their brands. She specifically specializes in the topic of gamification. If you're like me, you have no idea what this word means. Basically, she teaches people how to incorporate persuasion and science into their marketing. Those fun little things in marketing that keep you coming back are due to brilliant people like her.

It's funny. Although the class was focused on marketing, the most important thing her class taught me was about myself. Micah taught me about this thing called "imposter syndrome." Essentially, imposter syndrome is a psychological pattern where you don't believe you've earned what you've achieved. You doubt your accomplishments, and fear being viewed as a fraud, despite evidence that you know what you are doing. When I heard this, I was like holy cow! This is me when it comes to photography, to a T. I often feel so insecure about what I'm doing with photography even though I've been doing it for years. This spoke to me so loudly. I've solidly built my portfolio and consistently produce work that I am proud of for a good while now. However, I still sometimes fear that those accomplishments were just flukes. I mean, what if I'm just a one-shot-wonder? What if I don't make good enough work on my next shoot? What if I get there, and my subject thinks I have no idea what I'm doing? Thinking like this quickly spirals into an inability to stand behind one's work. It turns into thinking that maybe I'm not good enough to be paid, or perhaps I just shouldn't be doing photography in general.

It wasn't until I heard this term, imposter syndrome, that my way of thinking was put into perspective. Something just clicked in my head. This is what I've been feeling for years, and it's not just me! It's more common than you'd think, especially for women. It's that little voice in your head that keeps you from asking for that raise or promotion at work that you've more than earned. It makes you question your value. I don't know what it was, but hearing about this made me feel so validated. And for some reason, consciously knowing it was something that I was doing made me feel inspired to overcome this mentality. It's actually one of the reasons I started this blog. Because guess what? I do know what I'm doing. Okay, I don't know everything I'm doing. But I have at least enough of a foundation to be confident that I am knowledgeable about what I'm doing. I mean, no one has all the answers. All I can do is keep learning and refining what I'm creating. Maybe now I can help others to overcome their own imposter syndrome.

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Alright, enough about that. Back to the photoshoot! This was such a fun shoot, let me tell ya. This is one of those cases where my imposter syndrome kicked in right away. This was actually my first time doing a shoot with a baby! Which also happened to probably be the most I've been around a small human in my entire lifetime. I was so nervous, but as soon as we started shooting, I remembered that hey! I know what I'm doing. All of the fear quickly melted away.

Her son was so sweet right until the end. A total trooper, smiling even in the chilly weather. We started by heading to a beautiful aspen grove near to our meeting spot. I just have to say, I loved the way that this location popped against the orange of Micah's jacket. This spot was just as magical as I imagined when Micah would talk about adventuring with her son in class.

She often talks about how yes, she's a mom and a businesswoman and professor, but she's also an adventurer. She takes on more than one role and does not allow herself to be defined by one thing. She loves to travel and be outdoors, and becoming a mom hasn't slowed her down at all. You can often find her, her son, and her husband in the back hills. When she described hiking with her son, this location is exactly what I envisioned.

We then headed down to the Clark Fork River, another location that perfectly fits this family. At this point, I have to give a shout out to Micah's awesome husband. As much as I would love to take all of the credit for getting this sweet little boy to look at the camera and smile, all of the credit goes to Eric. He was standing behind me, likely doing cartwheels and dancing to help accomplish the happy faces. Not only did having Eric there help keep Biscuit happy, but it also helped things flow faster and more efficiently to have an extra set of hands. Besides, is it really a family event without the whole family?

Scroll through below to see more shots from this day! -->

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Alright, I reached my writing limit for the day. Does this blogging thing ever start feeling more normal? Probably not. But seriously, let me know what tips you have in the future incase a shoot with a little one doesn't go so smoothly? I would deeply appreciate it!

Thanks for reading, as always!

Yours Truly,

Katherine