by csp@dmin | Mar 20, 2023 | Personal Branding, Self growth
I often get the question, what is personal branding? Why is it important?
Think about it likes this. Compare a generic, white tennis shoe to a white tennis shoe with a brand on. Which one is perceived more valuable? Which is more expensive? Which one will people stand in line for? We all know the answer to that.
Let’s also do a comparison between being a practitioner vs a personality in your brand. Take Dr. Phil as an example. He is not the best psychologist in the world but he is the personality in his business and I imagine he can charge what he likes for a session and there are people who will think he is worth it.
So your headshot is your book cover, your personal branding images tells the story about you, your brand and your personality. What you stand for, who you are and that attracts the right people to you, who shares values and identities with you. We all like to do business with other humans that we know, like and trust, that we can relate to and identify with.
By showing up online and telling people about it you become more than just a generic tennis shoe, you stand out and differentiate yourself.
If you are ready to explore this more and have elevated branding images that matches the level of service you provide, simply fill out my form on the website and let’s get you started!
by csp@dmin | Feb 13, 2023 | Beauty is Ageless, Magazine Style Portrait session, Self growth
Free, empowered, confident, bold, playful and brave.
I am expanding the perception of myself.
Being INTENTIONAL with the growth I want to see in myself.
If you know me, you know that I choose hiking boots over heels any day of the week. I almost fell over more than once just trying to stand in these heels 
However, I wanted to see myself differently, have fun and embody new sides and traits in me. Having a visual representation of what that looks like so everyday Christina can step into that too.
I grew up painfully shy, I made the interpretation early on that standing out in any way was not safe, I used to avoid mirrors and was hiding in plain sight. So it takes courage to do the opposite of what your brain tells you to do. But nothing changes, if nothing changes.
Before this photoshoot I went through the same emotions of resistance and insecurities that my clients often feel. The difference this time for me was that I welcomed it in. “Thank you for trying to keep me safe, but I choose to be more.” I got curious and it showed me where I need to love and accept myself more.
Let’s look at the “I have nothing to wear” objection, it is often deeper than that. It’s not just about the clothes. It’s about the acceptance of self. Of seeing yourself. In the end it’s not really about what you look like, it’s how you FEEL! When you are in front of the camera, when you look at your photos and in your life. Am I willing to see my own beauty? Am I willing to take a stand for myself? Accept myself? It’s all an inside job but having your own photoshoot can help you see yourself differently and also feel differently. Drop a heart in the comments if you are ready to put the next version of you on your vision board!
by csp@dmin | Sep 28, 2021 | Beauty is Ageless, Magazine Style Portrait session, Self growth
I’ve had some conversations lately with women who are always behind the camera, taking the photos of the kids, hiding in the back if they need to be in a photo. Now they want to step forward but don’t know if they have the confidence.
But how will you know when you have enough confidence?
How much more confidence do you need? 50%? 78%? Confidence does not just drop in your lap one day. I know that from experience. I was waiting for my confidence to show up and THEN I would do things. Thing is, it never arrived, I was always waiting, until I started to do things that were uncomfortable. Confidence comes from competence and if we never show up, start, do the thing, we will continue to repeat the same pattern all over again.
So I started showing up even if I was super nervous. I started to watch my self talk, turns out I was not very nice to myself. It’s really hard to build confidence if nothing is ever good enough. So I started to change that. What if I was that confident woman, what would I do then? Then I went and did the thing, sweaty palms and pounding heart, and you know what? I didn’t die. It got a little easier next time.
What if you trusted yourself enough to start showing up. What if you did love a photo of you? What if you accepted yourself like you are, right now? What would be possible then? Would you show up a little more in other areas of life? Chances are that if you are hiding in one area of life, you are hiding in other areas too. Do you need to wait or can you start showing up now? If not now, when?
I invite you to step into your power in front of my lens in my studio in Bozeman, where you will discover a confident woman who in fact looks amazing in photos.
by csp@dmin | Jun 11, 2020 | Self growth
Life has shown me the importance of community, seeking help and being open to new experiences lately.
I was a vendor at the Women in Tech Festival a few weeks back where I met all these amazing women. What really stood out to me was how these women are paving their own path, defining what success looks like for them and how important it is to have a strong personal brand.
One of the talks that stood out to me was by Pasha Cook, Founder of Pasha Cook & Associates.“Personal branding creates opportunities, it’s about understanding who you are so you can show up fully.”
I’ve been having some health problems lately, forcing me to slow down, to reflect and to try new things. Last week I did my first Reiki session, having no idea what to expect. After the session my healer told me that the words “heart centered photography” had showed up for her when she was working on me.
She said “you should put Heart Centered Photography on your website”. I just stared at her in disbelief, she just described exactly what I do in 3 simple words.
I will continue to mull over what these words mean to me and my branding, I just wanted to share that sometimes we get a message from the most unexpected source when we try something new. Sometimes we get so busy doing that we loose track off who we are when we are just being.
xoxo,
Christina
by csp@dmin | Apr 9, 2020 | Magazine Style Portrait session, Self growth
DON‘T DECIDE WHERE IT ENDS.
My yoga teacher spoke those words when I was in a particularly hard pose to hold. Can you meet your edge? Hold just a little bit longer?
That got me thinking of when I do this in my life, where I prematurely decide where it ends. I recently began talking singing lessons and when I come to this high note in this Lady Gaga song, I stop, thinking I can’t hit that note, that it will sound terrible (hello perfectionism!). But that was all in my head, I could in fact hit that note after a couple of trials, I had the power in me to do it all along, I just needed a little coaching.
Take a look at these two portraits below. Looking at the woman I was in 2013, I’m cute and younger but I can see the insecurity in my eyes. I was new in my role as a marketing and event manager, going to network at an event full of Silicon Valley hotshots and I dreaded it. Because I did not feel worthy, who was I to be there?
Looking at the woman I am today, I see someone who is on track to own her femininity, to step into her power and journey and ask herself, who am I NOT to be there? And that is powerful. Every time I doubt that, I can look at my new portrait and remind myself.
As a portrait photographer I meet women who have decided where and when it ended. Who tells me with their objections that it ended before this age, before this particular weight or before……. But they decided that they are not worthy of being photographed. Not in this season of life.
But it hasn’t ended. You can hit that note even if your mind says you can’t. You can meet your edge where it is today. And you can move that edge, bit by bit every day until you are in a completely different place that when you started out. Don’t decide where it ends, my sweet friends.
by csp@dmin | Feb 13, 2020 | Self growth
I just did my first FB Live where I talk about being seen, you can watch it here
As I mention in the video, being seen doesn’t come easy to me, I started my photographer career because I loved photographing people but it also gave me an opportunity to hide behind the camera so I didn’t have to network at the events I was organizing at the time.
I was listening to a podcast the other day where I heard the person being interviewed say “at any given moment you can choose to conceal or reveal more of yourself” and that really hit me in the gut.
How can I ask of my clients to be brave and be seen if I am not willing to do that?
So I thought I’d share an experience I had not long ago about being seen:
About a month ago I was listening to a podcast with Tara Brach where she said “the path to freedom is through vulnerability”, and it so resonated so with me.
On that same day a post showed up about a workshop called Freedom with Amy Buck at Wisdom Ridge Ranch. And I thought, this is not a coincidence; a workshop called Freedom with a horse called Wisdom, sign me up! 🙂
At the workshop we all did one on one work with a horse in the round pen, you can see a photo of me and Wisdom below.
The energy of a horse is a powerful thing, I immediately connected with Wisdom and I just started to cry.
I have no idea how long I was in that round pen, all I know is that when I let it all go, when I shed the mask, the layers, everything that I was carrying, we were so in tune. I felt an amazing trust between us and I could see his wisdom.
He taught me a lot in those minutes in the round pen, when I was in the present and not stuck in my head with expectations about how it should be we were so connected. When I tried to hard or started to judge we lost that connection. I think that is such a great lesson on how to live our lives.
After this experience that is really hard to put words on, out in the “real world” I tried to make sense of it all, where did all those tears come from? And I started to feel embarrassed over crying in front of people. The judging was back.
When I had my follow up call with Amy and we explored where those tears may have come from, she said couldn’t it had been because you were being seen, just as you are, you were being seen in this intimate way.
I was putting away the layers of perfectionism, the struggle and the expectations and felt the unconditionally love that animals give.
How does this experience tie in to my portrait work you may ask?
To me this is everything.
I want to create the same safe bubble in my studio as I had with Wisdom. Where my clients will allow themselves to be seen and captured. Where you can show up and choose to reveal more of whom you are and we can uncover that together.
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