Red Herron Art - Year in Review, 2023
Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado, Georgia + New Mexico
What a year. I boarded 16 airplanes + traveled to 6 different states. I shot my first destination wedding/elopement. I witnessed two people pledge their love and life to each other surrounded by mountains and while being peppered with rain. I shot a proposal that was a surprise (even to me!). I did my first ever scheduled mini sessions and met some really great people through it. I got to tour the Big House in Ann Arbor with one of the most fun and welcoming families I’ve ever worked with. I photographed my little sister’s engagement. I was overjoyed to witness and document friends getting engaged, having their first child, and becoming families. I drank Harvey Wallbangers with a bride and groom at bar hours before their ceremony. I got to take some time to do some personal traveling and take photos that didn’t even have people in them! I stayed at a seaside motel in Tybee Island and got up every morning to take sunrise pictures on the beach. And best of all, I realized that doing all of this is the most rewarding and empowering job I’ve ever had — and that it needs to become a full time thing.
In November, I started a photography business education program that is slowly giving me all the tools I need to achieve this goal that I’ve set for myself. I’m doing all the things I’ve always wanted to do but just wasn’t quite sure how to do them. I invested actual dollars into myself in a way that I never have before, and it’s thrilling and empowering and also scary in a lot of ways (you’re on you’re own kid, you always have been). It’s a lot of selling, a lot of marketing, a lot of stripping yourself down to find out what compels you, what is compelling about you, and who you want to market to so you can get the right people invested in your journey and so you can be there for them before they even know they want to hire you. (It’s so strange thinking of yourself as a brand, but we’re all kind of presenting ourselves that way, whether we like it or not, and have been since social media took off). I’m still working on what all of that looks like for me, but for now I can see how it is going to help me and how I’m already doing so many things that will serve me and my business incredibly well. Marketing is the hardest piece for me. But it’s reassuring to know and learn that I’m not trying to sell anyone anything they don’t want— I’m just trying to get in front of the people who are looking for exactly what I have to offer. It’s been so much work, but it never feels like a fruitless chore. I’ve spent so much time at my computer this year that I’m going to have to invest in some kind of super chair because ya girl’s posture and lack of ergonomic support is terrifying. But it’s been worth every ache and pain.
I’m so proud of the work that I’ve produced this year. I’m a pretty harsh self critic, so I’m always looking at my work and asking myself what I could have done better. In the past, I’ve liked photos that I took but just didn’t feel like my work was quite where I wanted it to be. But I can tell with each passing year the criticism is less and less. I’m seeing in my photos what I see in other people’s photos that I deeply admire, and it’s so exciting to think about the work I will produce next year and how much PROUDER I will be of that. Ive had so many people this year tell me they love my photos and that they can’t wait to work with me, or loved working with me, and that kind of feedback I don’t think will ever get old. Do you know how many photographers there are? Probably hundreds just within a 10 mile radius of me. It’s such a compliment, and it never goes unappreciated — I feel it in the deepest parts of my soul.
For this year’s recap, I tried to pick highlights, but I also wanted to showcase the pictures that I love that for whatever reason haven’t been prominent on my website or Instagram. I think if you’ve been following me for a while you know that I love the small, candid underdog moments. A couple’s portrait with mountains in the background is great, but my bread and butter is really in the moments that almost didn’t get captured, because it makes it even more special when they do.
If you were behind my camera this past year, or if you offered me words of encouragement, or engaged with my content on Instagram (please do this, it’s so helpful!)— thank you from the bottom of my heart. This work is worth it but it’s WORK and I appreciate everyone who makes it easier, helps me grow, and reminds me that my art is beautiful and that it’s worth it to keep going— even on the hard days.
Next year I want to do more couples + weddings, with at least a few of those being destination weddings/elopements. I want to meet so many new people and connect with them, their families and their community. I want to push my work even further and make it even better. I want to photograph people who aren’t stressed about things that don’t matter, who are just excited to marry their best friend and celebrate with their families. I want to photograph backyard weddings, courthouse elopements, park elopements, beach elopements— anywhere that’s beautiful and meaningful and affordable. I also REALLY want to photograph a wedding on Mackinac Island, so let’s MAKE THAT HAPPEN. Manifesting Mackinac (maybe that hashtag will get me somewhere, lol).
Thanks for reading! And remember, If you’re going somewhere awesome in 2024… take me with you!