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Deciphering and Choosing Trends - Episode 38
62 Plays1 year ago
If you get overwhelmed by how many trends come and go, and trying to correctly choose which ones to participate in feels impossible, this episode is for you! We share how people can easily and successfully decipher different types of trends in their industry, and how they can choose which ones will be beneficial to participate in, versus which ones would be a waste of time!
There are 3 types of trends that we talk about in this episode: Recycled classics, one-offs, and dependable trends. Each of these has different outcomes, and if you use social media for your job, it's important that you learn how to differentiate between the three and only participate in the ones that will help you grow your business.
If you have 30 minutes this week, we'd love to have you join us on today's episode!
As always, you can find us on Instagram @artofintentionpodcast, and you can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Zencaster!
Your hosts,
Beth and Ayla
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Transcript
Introduction to The Art of Intention Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Have you ever seen a new trend in your industry and wondered, should I try that or let it pass? With the age of social media, it's getting so hard to sort through the hundreds of new trends that surface every year and decipher which ones would be worthwhile for us to pursue.
00:00:14
Speaker
If you want to hear how we sort through trends and how we safely test the waters of going outside the creative box in our industry, then keep listening. Welcome to the Art of Intention podcast with Beth and Ayla. Two best friends turn creative entrepreneurs. This is a place for us to discuss everything business friendships and faith and occasionally more. We're so excited for today's episode. We think you're going to love it. Stay tuned.
Navigating 2024 Trends Without Compromise
00:00:44
Speaker
Well, it's a new year, which means we are already seeing people predicting the 2024 trends in their industries. And throughout this year, we're going to be faced with numerous choices as to whether or not we're going to try out some of those new trends and things for our own businesses.
00:00:59
Speaker
What I really wanted to talk about today, what we really wanted to talk about, because you don't hear this very much, is how to decipher which trends to follow, and moreover, how to get creative and try new things without risking the quality of your work, your business, and generally just how to try new things in a wise way.
00:01:16
Speaker
Yeah, amazing. That sounds so good. We have thoughts, so I can't wait to get into it. We should mention right off the bat that of course owning a business is largely about trying new things, thinking outside of the box. Especially for us in the creative zone, pushing creative limits, that's how you grow, that's how you learn, and that's how you sell people new things.
The Overwhelm of Social Media Trends
00:01:38
Speaker
It's this is so as of the last 10 years or so but social media overwhelm is a real thing and it's getting way way more common and it seems to happen just quicker every year after the holidays so like
00:01:51
Speaker
Trends are just coming like from every direction and sometimes they're different. Sometimes you feel bad for like not even knowing about it because they came and went so quickly. So how do we balance? How do we balance keeping up with trends for business sake without feeling sick of social media burnout, feeling like a failure? Let's dive into it.
00:02:11
Speaker
So first order of business, I think we should talk about how do you even pick out what's trending? Like how do you even know that? Yeah, right. And I guess we'll probably both share our thoughts on this, but like obviously there are probably experts out there on this subject, but for the sake of what we're talking about today, I think of like three different categories.
Classics vs. Creative One-offs vs. True Trends
00:02:32
Speaker
So bear with me. I'm just kind of making this up. Like I didn't know how to phrase it, but I think there are classics.
00:02:38
Speaker
There are creative one-offs is what I'm going to call them. If there's a better way or a more fun way, you can think to say that. I don't know. Let me know. And then there are trends. I get that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, classics, one-offs and trends. Sometimes recycled classics can look like trends.
00:02:54
Speaker
And if you jump the gun, you can mistake a creative one-off as a trend as well. The kind of trend we're talking about in this episode are the creative ideas that are a little outside of your normal scope of style and get you noticed, whether it's being noticed by a new set of clients or going viral, but essentially it has an effectiveness to it because it shows people that you have a wider range of skills than if you didn't participate in the trend. So that's kind of what we mean by trend.
00:03:22
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Like to further explain creative one-off ideas might get you noticed, but they're, they're too niche to really like fully translate into more clients. And classic is really great and it's really good, but it doesn't show any new skills, any variety. And like that kind of gets into like picking a niche altogether.
00:03:40
Speaker
So again, this is really generalize and Beth it's interesting what you said too about recycled classics, because I was just about to say that like sometimes I'll see the like prediction 2024 trends, colorful weddings, and it's like, okay, like, for sure. I'll keep an eye out for that. But that's not
00:03:57
Speaker
new you know like there's been a few years of cream and neutral color to weddings and then there's been a few years of color you know I'm like and especially sometimes depending on what it is not saying that's a bad thing that it comes back but I am saying I'm glad you noticed that too because sometimes I'm like I see a trend and I'm like this isn't new but all right you could separate the two yeah yeah
00:04:18
Speaker
Overall, it's really generalized, but even thinking like this, separating those creative one-offs, separating those trends, all of those things, and what they actually do in your business is going to help you figure out what trends are going to be and if they're going to be worth your time and which ones
Committing to and Personalizing Trends
00:04:33
Speaker
are not.
00:04:33
Speaker
You can even think of it like this. All the things we've talked about so far are trends. They're just different kinds of trends that yield different kinds of results. So if you want to stand out but not necessarily book a ton of new clients, you can totally try something crazy, wild, and unique. If you want to practice your skills and build on your base, try a classic you haven't tried before.
00:04:54
Speaker
But if you're looking to catch some attention that will translate into a new set of clients that you want to keep, here's what we have to say. So yeah, just some like tips for that. Because again, like you said, they're kind of like you can separate them. So number one, like my number one tip for this to kind of get the best of all worlds in a trend is to commit. So if you really want this trend to be useful to you and to not be a waste of your time,
00:05:19
Speaker
You're going to need to take like a deep dive different than classics and one-offs. You have to show newness, which classics don't show, and consistency, which one-offs don't show. So be prepared that if this is going to be like a trend you do, see how well you can commit to it. Is it going to be like another one of your things or just even if it's just for a short period of time, are you going to, you know, really commit to it? But anyways, I think, yeah, that's the first one.
00:05:44
Speaker
Beth, I have a quick question, actually, real quick. It's not on the outline, but it might help grasp some of this. Do we have any examples for each different thing? An example for a classic, an example for a trend, an example for one-off?
00:06:02
Speaker
Okay, yeah, so some examples. Okay, so like a one-off is like the thing we saw when someone had a bride with an umbrella. I don't know if you saw this, Ayla, but there is like an umbrella and it was covered in flowers. And then it was also like flowers were dripping out from underneath it too. So it's like flowers on top, flowers underneath.
00:06:23
Speaker
And it went so viral. And it looked like it was going to be a trend because it was so viral. But this is where pausing and being able to predict whether it's just a one-off or a trend is important. Because no one's doing that anymore. No one really, it didn't really pick up. And rides are not requesting that and didn't start doing that. So that was like a one-off. Very popular, viral, but it was a one-off.
00:06:45
Speaker
A recycled classic right now is bringing color back into weddings, like having a color scheme base that's really strong for a wedding instead of like a neutral base, like maybe an all blue wedding. But not to get too complicated on you here, what's trending within that recycled classic is having color blocked florals.
00:07:06
Speaker
Just the way they're doing it. There can sometimes be trends within the recycled classics. You don't want to just say, oh, this is coming back. I'm just going to do this exactly how it used to be. There's also deciphering within the classics what the real trend is.
Identifying Long-lasting Trends
00:07:20
Speaker
For example, right now with the colorful weddings, having color blocked florals is really big. That's when let's say an aisle and an arch has rainbow flowers, but they're not all mixed together, but rather they're
00:07:33
Speaker
session so like there's a clump of red and then you go further there's a clump of orange and then it's all yellow then green the blue you know so it's all the colors of the rainbow but they're not mixed in together okay gotcha okay and and then let's see just a trend like a pure trend I would say one that happened a little bit ago was shooting in blue hour that became really trendy this is the hour that's right after golden hour
00:07:58
Speaker
Or right before golden hour, but um usually right after so it's when it gets a little bit darker It's a little bit blue and not only did it go viral But it stayed popular and people request it now and you're seeing a lot of people do it And it showed an advanced new skill set so you got the benefit of it being viral and it also has long-term benefit of showing you have extra skill and you are a master of your craft in a different way and it actually was something the clients were interested in so
00:08:28
Speaker
there you go that's like some off the top of my head examples well and then that makes it super clear too of like how to tell
00:08:35
Speaker
between what each thing is, like the umbrella of like floral bouquet, or I even saw like
Will Dark and Moody Editing Styles Date?
00:08:40
Speaker
in studios, people were hanging flowers from like fishing line to be among them, super beautiful. But yeah, I haven't seen that requested a ton. So then is it like, say you're a photographer, you have your own studio, you're like, I gotta start advertising this, this has to go. Like, do you let yourself get overwhelmed by that just for it to be off of TikTok in two days? Or something like overall, like,
00:09:03
Speaker
Something that would be more of a trend that's kind of stuck around in studio photography. Paper backdrops maybe. Yeah, yeah, like paper backdrops, different colored paper backdrops. Like I don't really see those going away anytime soon. So like when learning how to shoot that be something better to like practice a show that you can do.
00:09:19
Speaker
Oh yeah, a better use of your time. No, I love how you're saying that. Exactly. In the age of overworking ourselves when we shouldn't be and social media and being overwhelmed with all of our options, pick something that's going to be a good use
Personal Branding in Editing Styles
00:09:32
Speaker
of your time. Exactly. There have definitely been things that I'm like, oh my gosh, I would just die to do that because it went viral and it was so cute. And I was like, oh my gosh. OK, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. So I love what you said. Yeah. So we'll go on to the next tip. Beth's first tip, like she said, would be to commit. If you really want the trend to be useful, to not be wasting your time,
00:09:48
Speaker
really learn about it, practice it. All right and so then the next tip after that is to mix it up and make it your own. Don't exactly copy, you know we'll harp on that a ton over here. Even if it's a tiny change, the beauty of a trend is that it shows us something new and each person adopting a trend is a new chance to show something unique, a skill set, a mindset, an idea,
00:10:11
Speaker
How can you make it your own even in a small way still while keeping the original? trend alive like the way I see that initially like I'm not a photographer but take like the studio photo shoot flowers hanging down like by string or something like that like it I guess like that was kind of like you said a one-off creative thing but trend you know for the sake of example Let's say that's going on for a while if
Maintaining Identity Amidst New Trends
00:10:35
Speaker
I wanted to do that in my mind I think I would source I would do something where I source like
00:10:41
Speaker
all black flowers and like all black leaves and make it like a smoke machine, you know, something like that. Like what are ways you can take it?
00:10:48
Speaker
and totally make it your own and hopefully spark something creative in you to mix it up. Well, yeah, I think like you said, those small changes are what keep the trend alive and keep it going because it also shows, it makes it applicable to more people and more clients. Clients have a higher chance of seeing something they can relate to if you make small changes.
00:11:11
Speaker
Anyways, okay, along with that, another tip is to keep your strengths strong. And with that, we just kind of mean don't toss the things you are good at to the side just to pursue a random trend. So there's a reason your clients follow you and your followers follow you. If you're good at XYZ, if you're good at something, stay good at that. And trying new things is about building on to what you already have, not necessarily just plain swapping out.
00:11:40
Speaker
So there has to be a little bit of thought when you're choosing what trend to go after to that as well. Well, yeah, like, I guess for you, Beth, like you, you're a Hawaii photographer, you've gotten very good at like photographing that specific landscape. And then you've also started doing underwater photography, but it's not like you're like, I'm a Hawaii underwater photographer. That's all I do. It's an addition like to your skill set. That's not so much trends, but I guess, you know, like, yeah, what you're
Strategic Adoption of Minimalistic Design
00:12:05
Speaker
putting forward. I'm also good at this, but I'm not just an underwater photographer.
00:12:08
Speaker
I actually think underwater photography is a trend. I hope it becomes a classic and stays forever, but I could also definitely see it becoming something that might eventually fade a little bit. It might get bigger. It is actually growing, of course. But yeah, I know I agree with that. Cool. And then the last tip we have for that is attention to detail. So definitely think about it before you try it. We're not saying to agonize over it and stress yourself out too much because
00:12:38
Speaker
If you do that with every trend, you'll just be exhausted. Like we said in the beginning with how quickly they come and go, but definitely pause and think, how can I make this work for me? Will this even blend well with my skillset? Can this even apply on a tiny scale, like in niche areas? You know, for example, if you wanted to try a new editing style, make sure you are still paying attention to skin tones and always keep your skin tones looking good and consistent. Even if you're completely flipping your editing style, narrowing in on at least one anchor point can sort of be
00:13:07
Speaker
like a path that you follow and that can lead you to really actually embrace the trend well. I see this all the time as an editor with photographers who are wanting to switch up their editing style and maybe they've edited super warm for years and they want to take that cool approach. Yeah.
00:13:23
Speaker
So they buy a new preset or something like that, but then it makes like skin tones completely green. Obviously you can't just like click on a new preset and go with that. Um, I've gotten notes all the time of I'm changing my editing style. I'm trying this, but I really don't want their skin tones to look green. I like a more pink skin tone and just stuff like that because yeah, you don't want to. I think it can be easy, especially if we're talking about changing editing style to like, yeah, buy a new preset and just go with how it looks.
00:13:48
Speaker
but then it completely changes everything you're known for and your work. So yeah, just still paying attention to, like I said, the anchor points. What's still important that you want to keep with your style and make it work for you, I think is a huge point. Yeah, exactly. Good, good point on that. And I think just overall, if it's a one-off creative idea and it's unable to
The Rise of Comedic Reels for Engagement
00:14:09
Speaker
be customized to your style and kind of relate to you and your voice, or if you don't think you can do it well,
00:14:16
Speaker
then it's a waste of your time. I'm sorry to tell you that. So when you're scrolling Instagram and TikTok and you see three new trends a week, ask yourself those three things. Is it a one-off? Can I customize it? And do I think I'll be good at it? Those are like my top things. I don't know. Like, Ayla, what do you think you agree with that? Like top things we're thinking we're trying to adopt trends. Yeah. Like I, when we initially were thinking about this, I didn't really think about like, will it even be customized to your style and your voice? Like,
00:14:46
Speaker
and it can get into a whole conversation of personal branding and stuff, but will it be super out of place if you adopt it? Like you've been running your business, you've been running your Instagram, and say you start this, are you confused looking at your own work? Do you think followers will be confused looking at your own work? Like a what is this kind of a thing?
00:15:04
Speaker
there are super beautiful and super unique trends coming out but like your work and what you've already been setting up as a photographer is also beautiful and unique and you don't have to like give that up just because this post went super viral like people are super into content right now what looks pretty in a video but it doesn't mean you rescale your whole business for that and something that's interesting uh Beth talking about editing style I'm in a ton of like editing and photography groups so I see a range
00:15:33
Speaker
of everyone's different styles. And generally, we've talked about this before, but generally editing styles fall into two categories, two niches. There's light and airy and there's dark and moody. And then within that, there's a whole spectrum. There's true tone, there's film emulation and all this stuff. But generally, because those two are so opposite, those are like the two.
00:15:53
Speaker
that people go down. I've always advertised myself as a dark and moody editor because I really like the style. It feels really creative for me. Within that, there's a lot of styles. I think within the dark and moody niche, there's a big range of timeless and trendy editing. It's been really interesting because I love how the trendy editing looks. When I say trendy, a lot of people categorize dark and moody by looking, and this isn't negative. I'm just saying it's looking filtered, looking edited,
00:16:23
Speaker
looking not how it looked in the moment and not in a bad way, but you do exaggerate how the sunlight looked. You do warm up the skin tones. You might, you know, if it was super, super green grass, you might warm up the whole images and take some of that, some of that green out. That's most of the work I do and I love doing it, but it's interesting. I think there's certain directions it's going that are going to be very
00:16:47
Speaker
2017 to 2025, let's say, like that's just kind of a guess of the rough years that this has been a thing. Like my, my parents will see the work I do and they're like, man, like when we got married, they just took the photos, you know, and it looked like how it was shot that day. And some people still edit that way. They just do a little bit of color correcting all the way to like, it looks like a different photo. And again, in a good way, but I've been in these photography groups and a lot of people will be like,
00:17:13
Speaker
I want to share my photo for constructive criticism. And sometimes it's these super orangey, warm, golden hour, vibey, filmy edited shots. And a lot of the old school photographers will be like, this is beautiful, but I'm telling you right now, this is going to look like it was shot in the 2020s.
00:17:31
Speaker
because it's a very trendy editing style. And again, this isn't to like fashion-y style, but I saw a different comment say like, this is like when we all had like avocado green fridges in the seventies and we look back and like cringe. Like it's just, it's so within this time zone because we haven't seen editing like we've really seen today in a long time. So is it going to fade out or is it going to stick?
00:17:52
Speaker
It's just like, it's just an interesting thought. I love working on it. I love seeing it. But it's interesting to think like, will you look back on your super filmy artistic vibey photos and still love them or be like, man, that was super what everyone else was doing at the time, you know? Yeah, exactly. No, that's such a good point. I'm glad you brought that up. And I think that's where it's like, you got to be smart about it. You maybe at least show this is where it's important to at least show a variety of strengths, at least show you have the ability to do other things. So and so that you have
00:18:21
Speaker
the ability to adapt and grow as time goes on. Just be aware of it. Just be aware that what you're doing now might be really trendy and have a plan for a couple of years out for when things start to shift, if they start to shift. And you know what? We also, we were just talking about recycled trends and recycled classics. Maybe it'll circle back around in a few years. So you don't have to abandon it if you think it's going to be a trend or a
00:18:45
Speaker
you know, kind of fade out or something. Um, but also when you were talking, it reminded me, it doesn't have to check. I know I just said, like, I asked myself those three things, like, is it a one-off?
Balancing Creativity with Trend Adoption
00:18:56
Speaker
Can you customize it? And do you think you'll be good at it? It doesn't also have to check all three boxes. Ayla, let me know if you agree. Um, if it's easy and quick,
00:19:06
Speaker
And you know, it'll be like a, like something that's made beneficial in some way. Go for it. Like for example, um, like a quick comedic reel. I don't know. I think Ailey and I both have had, we've done that. Like that took me 10 minutes and was really beneficial. So yeah. Yeah. Like, like trends. Well, I think there's a way to go about it. Like, I think you're totally right. And I think it can really boost social media presence and growth to like, yeah. If you hear a sound that's been going around and it's not that much effort for you to make.
00:19:36
Speaker
I say go for it. There's so many ideas I have for reals, but yeah, the trend was like two weeks ago and I'm like, Hmm, should I bother now? That's so old news, but, uh, stuff like that. But also again, don't overwhelm yourself. Like I I've never followed. Okay. Here's a hot take. I've never followed any of the pages that are like, use this sound. It only has 2000 views, but next week it'll have 40,000 and that's how your page is going to grow. Like trending sound.
00:20:01
Speaker
trending template, trending this. I hate those pages. I've never followed any of them, but they just appear in my feed just because it can easily overwhelm you. It'd be like, Oh, if I don't use the sound right now, am I not going to like, you know, don't stress yourself out trying to keep up with again, trends come and go so quickly. But I think what Beth's saying is some easy gold of something that's low effort for you to do.
00:20:23
Speaker
like a quick comedic reel, but could pay off by your personal brand on your Instagram, I think is a good idea for sure. But yeah, like you're saying like the trends like shifting your photos completely. You might really want to think about that one.
00:20:37
Speaker
Yeah, just think about all of it, just everything we've been saying. And I think, I mean, I can go over, maybe it'd be fun to go over a couple of trends that we've tried and liked that have worked out for us, like things we've thought this is going to be worth my time and then what we've learned from it. Even so, maybe some we've tried that we're not a good idea, that we're a waste of our time. Sure. Yeah. I can start and we'll just bounce off until we've run out of ideas, I guess. Sure. Go for it.
00:21:01
Speaker
So one of the things that I tried that was kind of trendy that has worked out for me and I'll explain why is like, you know, the social, the design, like the graphic design of like very minimalist and kind of, it's got like these like skinny tall letters that have kind of like a swirl in them. I don't know, just very, it's a very, it's a specific style of graphic design that I use on my website. I use it on my graphics for social media usually. And that's worked out really well for me. And I know it's trendy. I know it was basically a trend and it'll probably change eventually.
00:21:31
Speaker
But why it's worked so well for me is because it can go with anything. So whether it's on my website, no matter how my editing style changes, it just seems to always fit. And I feel like it's a good, it's become a good constant in my life. I changed my opinion so much. I feel like on stuff, I'm always trying new things sometimes to a fault. And it's just given me a lot of freedom. So something that I decided to try because I saw it serving me well.
00:21:57
Speaker
In the moment, I had to change everything. I had to change all the fonts on my website. It felt a little bit like rebranding, but it ended up being something good for me. So that was like a trend. It's so random, I know, but that's something that worked out for me because I could see it serving me in so many different areas and benefiting me in that way. Yeah. I'm actually on the same boat with fonts, but kind of different than what you said. I know the font that you're talking about.
00:22:23
Speaker
Taller, skinny letters, but it looks good on everything. When I rebranded my website at the beginning of 2023, I had a consult with like an educator, like business coach. And I've talked about this before, but it was basically like, this is a different conversation, but like how your website should reflect your ideal clients. So she walked me through a few clients I already have and a few that could be ideal clients. And we like checked out their websites,
00:22:49
Speaker
And again, not to copy, but just to see what people are doing. Because the first draft of my website was rough. If you saw it, thanks for staying. But dated, I would call it. Not even timeless. It was like, anyway, it's fine. But she showed me really trendy websites. Because again, I edit for the filmy, vibey, moody kind of photographer.
00:23:12
Speaker
And the main fonts I picked out, she even said, she's like, they're super trendy. Like they're young, they're fresh, they're new, no one's really done it before. And kind of like more like swoopy-ish fonts and stuff like that. So that's what I went with. And again, with that rebrand,
00:23:32
Speaker
I attracted a lot of people. Even if they didn't find me through my website, but sharing my website with a good thumbnail and that and stuff, it just called out to what they were doing. Basically, it was a trendy font. And I wasn't sure about that idea because she used the words trendy. I was like, I don't know. Do I want to be more timeless? But it did work out for me. And I use all those fonts, again, across my socials and stuff. And slowly over to, I mean, not like my socials are perfect, but the idea is that slowly people see those fonts, those colors that pair, and they think, Ayla.
00:24:01
Speaker
And so that has worked out well for me. And will I maybe change them if the people I want to work for change? Sure. Like that is something I'm prepared to like keep an eye on and maybe update because I always want to reflect.
00:24:15
Speaker
who I want to work for and what they're doing. So that's, oh my gosh, that's exactly, that's so cool. And I think what you just said is a big benefit of hopping on a trend early and then applying all the tips we just, just gave, think through it before you do it, hop on it and commit. Because eventually if you hop on it early enough and you fully adopt it, people are going to think you when they see that trend, like you just motivated my own self, like not going to lie.
00:24:43
Speaker
Okay, but keep going with the examples because we're not just talking about that, you know, this can apply to so many things. Like even with Reels, I find Reels is one of the hardest things to decipher because there's so many options and it's constant.
From Trend to Classic: Candid Photography
00:24:56
Speaker
You're going to make good decisions and bad decisions with that. You could easily waste your time on a week's worth of content on a reel, or waste a week's worth of time for content on a reel that flops, which has happened, I think, to both of us. Yeah. Oh, it's so sad. It's so sad when it happens, but it's one of the most discouraging things, in my opinion. But then there's something like my reel that got the most views
00:25:22
Speaker
took me 10 minutes to make. I was in my sweatpants in the video and it was a comedy reel and there was no harm in trying it. And if they had flopped, I spent 10 minutes on it. So it's learning from that and going forward and going, okay, if it's a, if it's clearly a trend, is it going to be worth my time? If it's going to take too long of a time, maybe not. So yeah, stuff like that. No, my, I'm literally in the same boat. Like people love the comedic reels and
00:25:50
Speaker
Again, when it all, well, I got super deep in my own head, but it all reflects society and like what we want to see. And yes, people want to see business motivation. They want to see your work and what you do, but people also like want to laugh. And I think personal branding is something that didn't exist like only a few years ago. Like, I mean, like 10, maybe 20 years ago.
00:26:13
Speaker
Like there was a brand, there was logos, there was fonts, but personal branding, like showing up as a personality, the way we're seeing it online today, I think is new. And I think it's what people want with the rise of social media and stuff. Who am I thinking of? Nathan Chansky, he's got a podcast called,
00:26:31
Speaker
passion with purpose. He's a fellow believer, photographer, amazing work, huge on personal branding. His reels are so funny. I've gone back to his page just to find his funny reels alone. Anyway, sorry, I went on a side tangent. Basically, I'm in the same boat as you where I've spent a week gathering content, gathering before and afters, lining them all up, lining them all up with a song.
00:26:53
Speaker
and it takes and then Instagram crashes and then I get back up and I post the real and it's yeah like four likes and I'm like and I definitely have to get better at like real building too that's a different thing but then the real again that had the most likes and the most views was again I like
00:27:10
Speaker
it was it was to the grossest song but it's the song that's like all the pretty girls walk like this yes yeah and every time she said this i like switched which way i was sitting in my desk and eventually ended up with like a blanket over my head like that one and people talked to me in person about that one they were like that was so funny so it was great
00:27:31
Speaker
And that was a trending sound at the time. Didn't take me much time to make. And, uh, so anyway, sorry, that was all to say like, that's another thing I have dabbled in is the funnier reels that are quicker. And those just do really well. And again, like followers aren't always your clients. I still make, I still pepper it in with who I am and what I do as far as business goes. But I think that's a harmless trend to jump in on, I think. Cause it just boosts your Instagram boosts your personal brand kind of for free at this point. Cause yeah.
00:28:00
Speaker
It's so easy to like click on a trend template and just put in your own stuff. Like it's so easy right now. So time is money. So think about that. Like, which is true. That's basically a free trend to participate in if you just use like the template for it. So, um, also for those of you listening, cause I just learned how to do that like three or four months ago. Basically, if you are looking at a real with a trending audio or it doesn't have to be trending, if you're looking at a real, um, you can click on, I think there's something in the lower right hand corner, right?
00:28:30
Speaker
Well, whoever creates it decides if other people can use the template or not. I've done that before. If it took me a ton of time to make, I'm like, sure, like other people can use this template. And sometimes I'm like, no, it depends. If the template is not that creative, then I'm like, nah. But anyway, if the creator lets you, there's a button that says like use template.
00:28:49
Speaker
Basically, yes in the bottom right, right? I think so I'm trying to find it on my page so I can share what it looks like But either way, yeah, so just so you know I just learned about that and basically what will happen is if you hit use template It'll pull up reels in Instagram and it'll have all the blank spaces with timing already put in there So you can basically just upload your video clips or your photos and it'll literally make that real for you in two seconds. So
00:29:11
Speaker
I like that. All right, so moving on, another example of a trend that I tried that worked out really well was the paper backdrops. Institute for studio sessions and stuff. That was just again, I think it worked out really well for me because it had benefits beyond just being a one off or a trend. One of the benefits was showing a new skill set, being able to shoot indoors and also having more gear. Yeah. Having actual physical backdrop is gear. You now have additional gear. So there's that benefit.
00:29:41
Speaker
And then I think the last one I'll talk about is something I hopped on at the very beginning of my career and that was just choosing to go after less posed and more unscripted, more adventurous based work. So getting away from something that we learned was a trend actually back then. It was having more posed
00:30:03
Speaker
people call it prom photos. You're always smiling straight at the camera and standing there looking a little bit stiff. Obviously, to each their own, but adopting something that a lot of people called a trend that has now absolutely become a classic, that's something that works really well. Yeah. At its bare bones, it's candid.
00:30:25
Speaker
Exactly. You said that weird, candid. Well, yeah, like, and Anne, Anne, with that, something that's important, I love candid photography. I like how I look with candid photography. Like whenever I pose and just smile, I'm like, oh, geez. Or like when I try to like look serious and like sultry, I don't know, I pick myself apart a lot more than like the candid ones. So I prefer that on myself. I love to shoot at the times I have, but, but
00:30:52
Speaker
in the spirit of what we're talking about, right? I think most photographers listening to this can agree.
00:30:57
Speaker
they do the unscripted, like candid look, but there's still value in the post shots. For example, when you send out thank you cards or when family wants to see your wedding, sometimes older family might not understand the whole like blurry photo thing or, you know, photos of the wedding table after the reception when it's all like messy and stuff and like this more documentary style photography people are going for.
The Role of Blurry Photos in Photography
00:31:22
Speaker
Most photographers actually,
00:31:24
Speaker
hopefully every single one is still shooting the family ones where you're all standing there and the bride and groom ones where you're standing there because when you do look back that's a clear look on how you did look that's the one you share with family like everyone adopted this trend but still kept
00:31:42
Speaker
What's important for that day is who was everybody? Who was there? How did they look? And yeah, you can apply that to so many things. Just because a trend's good, oh, we haven't talked about this yet, but the blurry photo thing. Oh gosh, yeah. I love how they look. When the trend first started, I was like, wait a minute. Because Beth, even when you and I were growing up, it was still crisp, sharp.
00:32:04
Speaker
Yeah, photos. That's what everyone works for. So when I started to see blurry ones, I was like, and I took film photography for a little while on like manual film cameras. If it was blurry, you failed. It was like, no, we do. Well, actually, there was we learned how to blur properly. You either move the camera or you change your settings, whatever. So when I first started seeing it, I was like, oh, this is like an interesting choice. Now I love when I see it, especially dancing photos, a blur. I love how it captures the movement. But I but you should not.
00:32:34
Speaker
no hate to anyone who's done this, but this is a hill I'll stand on. You should not send an entire gallery of blurry photos to imagine. And I don't think anyone's doing that, in the sense of you can add, but don't replace it with this trend, if that makes sense. Yes. That's exactly what I was going to say. This is where, again, like we've been saying, it's so important to learn
00:32:55
Speaker
When adopting new trends and skills, add, don't swap. Build on your skill set that's already there. And I think it is beautiful. I love seeing the creativity of blurry photos. And I also love seeing motion blur used the correct way because we have to remember where this came from. This is motion blur. It's supposed to be
00:33:12
Speaker
like if you're standing in front of a train and you're in focus and the train is blurry or I mean this obviously there's not a supposed to it's art technically it's whatever you want and I do love the really creative shots but sometimes people take trends a little too far and even if people catch on because the first time you deliver an entire gallery of blurries it's really exciting and cool and different people are like oh what's that be wise and just please like heed our advice on this just yeah acknowledge that things change and
00:33:40
Speaker
that you wanna have a well-rounded skill set and you don't wanna just swap out. You still have to be a proper professional photographer and like clear, crisp, sharp photos will never go out of style or else, you know, why would people be like getting their photos taken, you know? And that's, and...
00:34:01
Speaker
And again, like Beth said, just, just with everything that goes by. I'm also thinking wedding trends, but that's kind of like on the bride and groom's part, you know, but like, uh, you know, whoever's planning that, but, but yeah. Yeah. There's so obviously we're not bashing clearly. We're not bashing any trends. We love what we see. We love the creativity. We're just trying to share what we've learned through trial and error. And also we've learned through listening to people who are older and wiser than us and more experienced and
00:34:29
Speaker
I'm very stubborn, so usually I will hear advice from someone and go, thank you so much for sharing and go, I'm going to do my own thing. And so I am literally just a trial by error person. And so I'm trying to get better about if someone older and wiser than me says something, I want to take it seriously and let go of my ego for a second and write a thing before I have to fall to figure it out.
00:34:52
Speaker
So I'll probably always be a learn by doing person, but sometimes it can help to have someone else in your field say, Hey, love what you're doing. Just, you know, you have so many other valuable skills. Let's just think about this for a minute, you know? Right. And, and we hope it helps you not to feel overwhelmed. If you're a photographer, hopefully you're not like, Oh my gosh, should I be booking more studio sessions because everyone else is, or should I be booking these colorful weddings? Cause everyone else, it should I be like,
00:35:19
Speaker
You know, like there is a bit, I always go back to create, don't consume. If you're just sitting there and not, again, not accusing, but if you're, if you're sitting there looking at all these different photography styles, there's flash, there's film emulation, there's this, and you're like, Oh my gosh, I should be implementing all these things, but you're not out actually shooting, practicing and learning what you love.
00:35:39
Speaker
you're gonna lose your creativity. And I try to focus on that a lot with my social media, because I get pretty on myself of what I should be doing with social, should I be doing more real, should I be doing more? But then I'll just make a post that I like, and sure, maybe it doesn't do the best, but I liked making it. And at the end, get out and
00:35:58
Speaker
make something that you want to make that you know is good you know it's your work you know you're good at it without getting like basically all i'm saying is like we want you to know you don't have to be overwhelmed by the ever changing trends there's a way to adopt some and to leave others
00:36:13
Speaker
We hope we explained that by this point. We hope we gave you advice to help you decide for that. Also, real quick, before we wrap this up, I feel so
Film Photography as a Modern Trend
00:36:23
Speaker
silly. We didn't talk about one of the biggest things trending right now in our industry, and that's film. Film photos, like old vintage film. Like actual film. Yeah, like film, video or photo, film.
00:36:35
Speaker
I love this and I particularly admire the people who are adding it onto their packages. I feel like people have gotten so wise with this one. You don't see very many people completely abandoning and then just doing that. You see people adding it to their packages and I am just so in admiration of all the wisdom from my fellow peers that have happened with this. I've seen quite a few people
00:36:59
Speaker
invest in it, learn it, get really good at it. And then it's an add on. And I feel like that is just so I'm just like, you know, amazing. Like, absolutely. Round of applause. Yes. And that's a perfect way to describe it. Yeah. Like how you add, but like you don't just offer a physical photo album that wouldn't fly at this point in time. Everyone wants a digital one, but just the addition. I mean, maybe some people are happy with like still just like a photo book, but you know what I'm saying? Like you explain it perfectly. Like it's a, it's a new skill.
00:37:29
Speaker
It rounds out your skill. It's an add-on. You're still delivering your digital galleries like normal. Well, they're delivering this. I don't know much about it because I haven't looked into it for myself yet, but I think they're also delivering it digitally somehow. I know nothing about this.
00:37:42
Speaker
but they get it developed and then somehow also have a digital. So they have like both. It doesn't matter. The point is people are doing right. They're doing a great job. There are of course a couple of people who are just film photographer and videographers right now. And I mean, do you do you do whatever you want? But I would just say if you're watching that, yeah, it's amazing. And I think they'll definitely have great success with it for a certain amount of time. Um, hopefully I wish the best on them. Hopefully forever if they love it. But if you're listening to this and you're watching that and you feel conflicted or overwhelmed, just think through the things that we've said.
00:38:12
Speaker
Think if it's for you and think about the long-term things, acknowledge that things change and will change in the future. It'll go back and forth and just try to do what's going to be best for you in the long run. Yeah. If you try to do everything that's coming across your feet all the time, you'll exhaust yourself and then you might give up. And that's a cycle we don't want to repeat again in 2024. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. To hear more about business, friendships, faith, all of that stuff, follow along on our Instagram at Art of Attention podcast.
00:38:43
Speaker
Be sure to tune in each week on Tuesday for a new episode. Feel free to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. It helps us out so much. You can subscribe all over the place on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, and on Zencaster. And wherever you can, leave us your five star rating or review. If you ever have an idea for a new episode, you already know you can message us on Instagram or email us at artofintentionpodcast at gmail.com. See you next week. Bye. Bye.
00:39:16
Speaker
Bye!