“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”

– Steve Jobs

I am walking through the alley ways of the Rocks in Sydney, pushing a pram, and observing as Stacey conducts a model call for her city sessions as part of my creative mentoring process.

While I am 100% present as it’s an absolute privilege to see her dream become a reality, there is part of my brain which is marveling at what we do as photographers.

I mean, at it’s simplest form, we take photos. Right?

Anyone with a camera or mobile phone can and will do it.

But that does not take into consideration all the other tasks we do to make this happen which I write down on the way home in the train:

• we welcome our clients with big hearts and open arms.

• we make ourselves small to talk directly to the children so they feel noticed.

• we congratulate our clients on their wardrobes so they feel comfortable.

• we wrangle shy children and uncomfortable adults into natural moments to tell their story.

• we tell jokes, play hide and seek, and be a tickle monster to make them smile naturally.

• we seek the best light and the prettiest places to pose our families.

• we push prams, carry water bottles, and spell out the word SMARTIES to make sure Mum is ok with their children eating chocolate.

• we gauge our clients energy levels and how they are feeling to see if we should keep going or pause for a break.

• we encourage Dad’s to talk about themselves so they feel seen.

• we guide Mother’s to show their love and emotional heart.

• we look through a viewfinder while mentally run through our checklist of images we want to include in the session.

• we are climb rocks, get wet, lay in dirt to get the shot.

• we hit pause on our own levels of tiredness or emotions, and show up.

Often, we walk away wondering if we did enough.

If you’ve every wondered why you are exhausted after a session, this is a short list of what you do as a photographer.

If you’ve ever questioned if you’re good enough, know that you give your whole heart.

If you’ve ever felt small because you’ve been told photography is easy, know they have no idea what it takes to run a photoshoot.

Because this incomplete list does not include the work we do before or after the session.

I mean really!

How freaking amazing are we?