Idaho Photographer Friends | Breaking Boundaries

Community Over Competition

There's something pretty special about Idaho photographer friends.  You see, when I started photography, I had a dream and a passion, but I didn't have the knowledge or experience that I needed to start a business.  Three girls, whom I love dearly, reached out to me and invited me to join them on a shoot that they were doing for fun with a local model.  That shoot changed my life.  The girls were kind, outgoing, and truly cared about me.  They taught me about how amazing the photography industry can be and also showed me what kind of influence I can have on other starting photographers.

I made it my goal to always be kind and as helpful as possible when new photographers reach out to me! If Liza, Kristin, and Chae didn't do that for me I would not be in business today.  I want to inspire people to follow their dreams and also be there if they need a little push- like I did.  I will, however, not be responsible for the thousands of dollars that you will spend on equipment, so don't even try blaming me! ;)

So why community over competition? Ben Sasso, whom is one of my biggest photography idols, first introduced me to this idea.  The goal is that as photographers if we help one another we all grow together and that means we all win!  The way that Ben teaches us all about this is literally perfect! Read this excerpt from his blog:

I have seen so many photographers become islands. Lonely, discouraged, and negative little islands. Somewhere along the line someone thought it would be a good idea to view each other as competition and I have no idea how that stuck. Let me set one thing straight right away: your life and career will suffer greatly if you believe that, I promise. I am not your competition. You are not my enemy. You are my fellow artist and I’m on your team. I want to see you win. I want to see you create gorgeous things. You might think that there are only so many jobs to go around but I assure you, there are plenty. Every artist out there has their own style and every potential client has their own taste. There is always a match for you no matter how many other photographers there are in the industry. So here’s a thought: let’s quit seeing each other as threats to our businesses and start looking to each other for inspiration, education, and encouragement. We are all passionate artists; let’s start treating each other like it.

The other day Makayla and Maggie contacted me through Facebook saying that they wanted to meet up and shoot and have fun together, and that is exactly what we did! They came out to my town, Mountain Home, and we went to the sand dunes.  We laughed, snap chatted, and took tons of photos! The most fun part has been for me to compare how we all edit the photos.  It proves that even if we have the same equipment (which we do), shoot at the same location and same lighting, our photos still end up totally different! We are artists! I must also add, once you see these photos you will also see that Idaho has some very good looking photographers! ;)

Brie Thomason is a McCall, Lewiston, Sun Valley, and Treasure Valley Idaho Photographer. Are you outside of that area? I love to travel! Let’s get in touch!