There are quite a few new faces around here so I figured I’d post mine and re-introduce myself! . I’m Lindsay! I’m the 16-year-long-vegan lady behind this account, and it has been quite a year! . Just in 2020 personally, I’ve: ✨moved to Los Angeles ✨worked almost 100% remotely & revamped my entire portfolio within 5 months ✨pivoted my business to add product photography to my list of services alongside my regularly scheduled food work 🍔🍦 ✨added an entirely new strobe setup & home studio to my life ✨became a houseplant mom/person/crazy lady 🌱 . When I look back at the year I’ve had (while also somehow running a business full-time), it’s actually kind of comical. Who said 2020 couldn’t be a year of excitement and change? . What’s one positive thing that you changed or implemented this year? I’d love to hear it! 
Last month, I had something happen that hadn’t happened before. I wasn’t busy. And so naturally, alarm bells rang… And rang and rang. I panicked. I hadn’t known what it was like to not be ridiculously busy in quite some time. And then I realized something - as a business owner, I was either exhausted, overworked and miserable, or I was feeling miserable because I wasn’t exhausted and overworked. And it was then that I decided enough was enough! . So rather than spinning my wheels, allowing the panic to sit in, and excepting projects that didn’t pay what I deserved, I chose to allow myself to live in the mindset that busyness DOES NOT equal success. . Don’t get me wrong, there are still times with those alarm bells go off, but they’re getting fewer and far between! Have you battled through the fear of lack of busyness before? How do you usually cope? . ✨Featuringgggg: another piece for my “quarantine comfort” series featuring my favorite pie from @magpiessoftserve (birthday cake ice cream pie!) and some of my faaaaav kombucha I’ve tried recently 😍 @betterbooch (like how stereotypically vegan am I? 😂)✨ 
It’s been a season of change - in more than one way! And I’ve been able to work on myself and my business like never before. . I’ve been able to develop some new business muscles 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼 and practices, and one is ✨SETTING BOUNDARIES✨ - both with myself (I’m a workaholic) and with clients (I am a total people-pleaser and want to help EVERYONE) . With setting boundaries of when I respond to emails, how much/how little I need to explain to clients, which jobs to negotiate, which jobs to walk away from - I’ve been able to free up some brain space to figure out what work I want to be making that will bring me closer to my career goals. (Shoutout to @bonnebonnecreative who JUST made a story about this and it resonated hard with me!) . We don’t have to be “on” 24/7. We have lives too. It’s okay to set business hours. It’s okay to turn away work that isn’t your ideal budget, client, style, etc. When we run our own businesses, it’s really hard to set these boundaries so we end up burning out. And it’s important to set said boundaries so we have the energy and drive to create our best work for when those ideal clients come along! . What is one best practice or new boundary you’ve set for yourself this year? 
✨PRICING✨ Pricing might be everyone’s favorite topic - and by favorite, I mean most hated 😂 . Pricing is a touchy subject. Most of the time, it’s either far too much, or far too little, depending on whether you’re on the giving or receiving end. Today, I wanted to shed some light on five things that go into food and product photography pricing👇🏼 . ✨TIME: most of the images you see on here take hours to light, set up, shoot and edit. There are SOOOO many unseen hours in both planning and post production - including email/phone communication, mood boards, creative direction, prop and set material sourcing, retouching, etc. ✨GEAR: this equipment ain’t cheap! Just in the last 6 months I have spent upwards of $4k on lights, set materials and tools, software, and other odds and ends. The maintenance of gear is expensive too! ✨EXPERIENCE: you’re not just paying us for pretty photos - you’re paying for OUR work, which is a result made by hours of experience and hard work and education. ✨USAGE: you’re using our work to bring value and income to your brand or business. We own our images so we have to set the licensing rates based on how valuable the images are to your brand. ✨BUSINESS EXPENSES: it’s definitely not cheap to own a business. Around 30% of your invoice doesn’t even touch my pocket. It goes right into a separate bank account to pay taxes 🙃 . Are any of these reasons surprising to you? Tell me what shocked you the most below! 
“How many images do we really NEED to have?” . This is a really common question that I get when communicating with new clients - how many images are appropriate for an upcoming product launch? . In reality, you’ll be hitting social, emails, and paid ads with captivating imagery to promote your newest product or bite! Depending on how you plan to utilize those images, you might need anywhere from 5 to even 20 images! . A good rule of thing is to draw out your marketing plan and figure out which photos can be repurposed across different platforms. From there, you can calculate an approximate image count for what you’ll really need! . For reference, most of my clients book between 5-15 images per project. With licensing, this gives them plenty of imagery to utilize for that future launch or promotional calendar. . Was this more or less than you expected? Tell me below! . This post features one of my faaaavorite plant-based brands, @popandbottle - and their oh, so delicious turmeric latte 😍 
Feeling a little lighter and sentimental. I feel grateful that I have this job and can support myself doing what I love. I love being able to bring a client’s vision into reality. I love hearing how they have felt photography was one of their greatest investments in their business and marketing. It validates aaaaaalllll the hard work I put into every single project. (I’m a passionate gal, okay?!) . It’s not always easy though. There are things I could complain about, but I choose to focus on the positive and all the joy that being a photographer brings me 🙂 . Share something with me that you love about your job, or something that you’re grateful for below 👇🏼💞