If you follow me on the ‘gram, you may have seen or read about how I did a mentor session with the wonderful Evie Rupp. I am so incredibly sorry for the delay in information and photos from this session, wedding season has been HECTIC. But I am here to blog about it today (you’ll be seeing more blogs from me since I finally hired an assistant, yay!) and tell you guys all about it!
If you don’t know who Evie is, she’s an adventure photographer who is absolutely amazing at capturing natural emotions. I have been planning to go to The Heart Workshop with her and Lindsey Roman this December, but when I saw Evie was coming to Oahu in June, I just had to book a mentor session with this sweet lady to find out just how she makes her photo magic! Evie has a very different personality than I do, and she has a different style. I think when you are selecting a mentor, it’s important to pick someone who has strengths in areas that you want to improve upon. I am a big lover of candids, so I wanted to grow in that area, and she travels all over for sessions, so I wanted to find out how I can make that happen.
On the day of, we met in Haleiwa (y’all, I was so nervous) to talk about everything, including Instagram strategies, favorite ice cream flavors, to branding. She spent literal hours with me answering all of my questions and then I finally got to see her in action, shoot along side her, and try out some fun new prompts that she taught me. From all of the information she gave me, the most important lesson I learned is this: BE YOURSELF. It’s okay to be silly and have fun during your session, and it’s okay if your way of taking portraits is different than someone else’s. I have LOVED incorporating what I learned from our session into my weddings and portrait sessions, and my clients have loved it, too.
Has my business changed since our session? Absolutely! I have been getting some amazing candids, and I just booked by first mainland wedding since moving my business to Hawaii! So moral of the story – it doesn’t matter what stage your business is in, there is always room to grow. And I’m so thankful that I reached out to Evie, because the mentor session has been 100% worth it!
Take a look at some of my favorite photos from the portraits we took together!
Chelsea Stratso is a Hawaii portrait photographer, also serving California + beyond!
