000: INTRODUCING the DARE TO DEVELOP podcast & meet your hosts KRISTINE HERMAN & ASHLEY BAUMGARTNER

March 31, 2020

On today’s episode, we are welcoming you to Dare to Develop, the podcast. We want to take you on a journey of what inspired the podcast, introduce the format, and spend some time with you so you get to know us, your hosts! Join us on this fun adventure and we hope you’re inspired.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Welcome to the podcast Dare to Develop and we are so excited today to tell you a little bit more about our heart behind the podcast. What you can expect to hear in a typical Dare to Develop episode and a little bit more about ourselves so you can get to know us like friends.

This is a podcast started by us to hybrid photographer friends and creatives to focus on developing community and taking daring leaps in their businesses and will feature creative professionals who excel at their craft have dared to redirect or change things up. They focus on developing themselves, their community and their industry into something new.

We’ll have guests interviews from photographers, planners, florists, and creatives that are making waves in their communities and daring to develop their businesses and trials and we’ll also spill the beans on our two businesses, how we personally took daring leaps and developed community with each other and other amazing creative professionals all over.

RESOURCE LINKS

SHOW NOTES

Welcome to the podcast Dare to Develop. We’re Kristine Herman and Ashley Baumgartner. And we are so excited today to tell you a little bit more about our heart behind the podcast. What you can expect to hear in a typical dare to develop episode and a little bit more about ourselves so you can get to know us like friends.

So this is a podcast started by us, two hybrid photographer friends, to focus on developing community and taking daring leaps in their businesses.

We’ll feature creative professionals who excel at their craft and have dared to redirect or change things up and have focused on Developing themselves, their community and their industry into something new.

We’ll have guest interviews from photographers, planners, florists, and creatives that are making waves in their communities and daring to develop their businesses.

We’ll also spill the beans on our two businesses and how we personally took daring leaps and developed community with each other and other amazing creative professionals all over. So why are we doing this together?

Kristine and I are both small business owners ourselves and know that I can feel totally isolating. It can be lonely, it can feel like a whole lot of not so fun emotions. And that’s where the community comes in.

We each sought out community in different areas from “Tuesdays Together” as well as coffee meetups with other photographers and vendors. We just really wanted less isolating life.

Yes. And then we connected and realized that having a work wife in this industry had so many more benefits than we ever imagined from someone to bounce ideas off or assist in times of need.

We aren’t built to handle this life alone, which is why we wanted to start the podcast. We want to help you build community and feel less alone in this big industry and dare you to take risks together.

So to kick things off, we want to introduce ourselves. We met a few years ago in an Instagram pod and then connected in real life through a business accountability group that we were both in.

We met monthly to talk about our goals and text each other to keep each other on track. And actually we’re pretty good at it. So and then when I bought a film camera, I pestered Kristine over here to do a film mentorship for me so that I could learn the ins and outs from there. The rest is history.

We dubbed ourselves work wives, and we managed to text daily and see each other multiple times a week and just weather the storm of small business ownership together. We actually live only five minutes apart. From assisting at events, brainstorming the next moves in our respective businesses and grabbing a margarita after watching last week’s bachelor episode, we know we can count on each other. So Kristine, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself so our listeners can get to know you?

MEET YOUR HOST: KRISTINE HERMAN

I’d love to so I’m actually a hybrid photographer in Northern California when I’m not photographing weddings or events, you can find me cuddle up with my two dogs, Danny and Ted and my amazing husband, Zach.

We met in college and just recently a year and a half ago got married in Italy. I’m obsessed with travel, hence the destination wedding. So if I’m not at home, I’m traveling all around the world. I love seeing new places. My favorite foods are tacos or mac and cheese even though I’m lactose intolerant. Another thing is I’m completely obsessed with true crime. Any murderinos in here?

My dad is a retired cop. So that’s kind of where the beginning came for me. So when it comes to photography, I focus on timeless and joyful images for my clients. I love to create each couple’s love story. And I do that through film and digital. I actually have a background in coaching before this whole photography thing. I was a college athlete. I coached in college as well. So my whole life had been sports before this. I have a master’s in sport management.

So that has kind of come into the fact that I love mentoring and teaching people with my love of film and anything like that. You could find me on my Instagram or my website. Okay, Ashley, let’s learn a little bit about you.

MEET YOUR HOST: ASHLEY BAUMGARTNER

I’m Ashley Baumgartner. I’m also a hybrid photographer and wedding calligrapher in Northern California. I like to think of myself as a photographer, calligrapher, wife and bunny Mama. I actually have a pet bunny. His name is Murphy. Murphy he is a grumpy little dude that keeps my husband Jake and I entertained on the daily kind of a cross between a cat and a dog I think and on a typical weekend if we’re not photographing weddings, you’ll find me biking to froyo with Jake or watching the office for the 7000th time I can quote pretty much any episode.

Actually, before I started as a wedding photographer, I entered the industry as a wedding calligrapher, which a lot of people don’t know which I think is part of my love of details and flat lays and all the pretty things now.

I actually started that calligraphy business while working a full time job, if you’ve watched Parks and Rec, I was a Leslie Knopp, I did a lot of public outreach for more transportation engineering and development projects in the community.

I love that I got to learn a lot about the local community. And when I moved to Sacramento, which is where we both live now I got to learn Sacramento really fast. There are a lot of those projects and still nerd out on that all the time if you’re ever into like, public infrastructure is so nerdy, but I still love it. Thinking in a different life, I’d be an engineer, but we’re not there. So I am so grateful now to still be doing photography. I entered into the film world a few years ago, thanks to the help of Kristine here and still do a little bit of wedding calligraphy for some of my favorite planners in the area too.

When it comes to my photography work, I love color and romance. And I think locally, I’m starting to get known for loving color. And would just love weddings that are just full of joy and color and just so focused on the romance of my couples love stories, as well as the details like flat lays and styling and all that fun stuff. So a few other things I’m involved in.

I am currently co-lead the Sacramento chapter of Tuesdays Together which we’re going to talk a lot about and you’ll hear a lot of our guests talk about just a great place to find community in the creative industry. I also just launched a little shop of calligraphy based gifts for brides like tank tops and mugs, which has been a fun little side project two but I’m more excited about doing this

I will also eat any dessert. Then I also love bridal fashion. I’ve been this weird nerd of loving like bridal designers since the sixth grade. So more to come on that in the future. But you can find me on my website here or my Instagram.

ABOUT DARE TO DEVELOP

Let’s talk a little bit more about the podcast and share what we envision for Dare to Develop podcast episodes.

We’ll get to hear from creatives about themselves and their lives, as well as how they got to where they are today will then interview them about how they dared greatly or develop courageously in their businesses and communities and will of course, and with some fast facts, so you can get to know our guests like a friend.

We’re all about developing community here. All right, these are facts. We’re going to ask all of our guests as well. So we figured it’s only right for us to get to introduce ourselves in that way as well.

FAST FACTS ABOUT YOUR DARE TO DEVELOP HOSTS

What do you shoot with Kristine?

I shoot with a Contax 645 with the 80mm Zeiss lens and a Sony A7iii with the 55 1.8 lens.

What do you shoot with Ashley?

I also have the Contax 645 with the Zeiss 2.0 lens and then I shoot with a Mark IV Canon for my digital work with mostly the 50 1.2 all day, Though I will pull out a 35 or 100 if I needed.

Kristine, what is your favorite pre or post wedding snack?

I’m obsessed with a wedding day Coca Cola. I don’t know why, but I need that caffeine and I don’t even drink coke all the time, but for some reason, it hits a little differently. The wedding day.

What about you, Ashley? What’s your favorite?

I know I tend to show up to anything that has a long drive which we both have a lot of regularly with a box of those like Annie’s bunny grams for their chocolate and the chocolate chip and the honey ones are like the bunny version of Teddy grams. Kristine and I both head up In N’ Out drive throughs on the way home if we didn’t necessarily get a long time to sit down and have a snack, but I also will sneak out a dessert if there is one because I’m a huge dessert person.

Ashley, what’s your favorite pump up jam?

I have two and they’re very different, but I love them both. And so first is “Faith” by George Michael. I love some old school jams. I also love the song “Glorious” by Macklemore which is a totally different genre but it’s just all about how like you are made for what you’re about to do and I just try to get in that mindset of that’s what I made to do.

Kristine, what’s your favorite pump up jam?

I have two as well so first has to be Earth Wind and Fire “September”. I love it. I just will listen to that on repeat or I’m a huge Lord Huron fan. Fool for Love. I don’t know if you guys know it, but I can’t not dance to that song.

Kristine, what’s your favorite thing to do outside of photography?

Besides traveling, I love sports. About 18 years of my life was dedicated to basketball before photography. So when I’m not doing photography, I’m watching sports with my husband and we’re playing basketball. Anything active.

What about you, Ashley?

Oh man, that’s a tough question. There’s so many fun things! I like to drag Kristine to dance class and if I can have an evening out country line dancing. I also love to get together with friends and play board games. I actually worked at a board game store all through high school in college so I have a love for quite a few board games.

Ashley, what is the best education that you’ve learned from?

I dipped my toe in a little bit of everything I love in person. I love business books. I listen to some podcasts too. When it comes to business books, the book “168 Hours” is my favorite. It’s all about time management and how kind of that means Where it’s like we have the same hours in a day as Beyoncé.

It’s basically calling you out on that and talking about how we waste a lot of time as humans and like all those things we say we’ll do in our off time or we wish we had time which we now have time is just really more about how you prioritize what’s important to you and what you want to get done. So I love that and then I have loved the one on one mentorship so I’ve done with people I think learning one on one in person is a really valuable way to learn from hiring you Kristine or my no mentorship when I first bought a film camera many years ago to I’ve done some amazing one on ones with Ashley Rae photography of photography in Arizona.

I had the chance to go learn from Sophie Kaye a photographer in New York this year more about bridal fashion work and hope to do a few more one on ones in the coming years as well.

How about you Kristine?

I’ve learned a lot from Creative Live. When I first started my business, I was still working a full time job. And I did not have much money to invest in photography and educational courses and Creative Live has this great way to learn for free if you just watch it when it goes live, it’s completely free.

I learned from Jasmine Star and she did a whole bridal bootcamp on how to be a wedding photographer and I just every day for a month just listened to everything about that and took notes and it helped my business tremendously.

What is one daring leap you took in your business Ashley?

I think it’s so important to take those daring leaps and I do try to regularly push myself and to new things or going to an event or things like that, but definitely on the bigger side.

This past year I mentioned I stepped into co-leading Tuesday’s Together, which is the local chapter of the Rising Tide society, a national organization for creative professionals to develop community and get free education, it’s totally a volunteer thing. But I have loved it.

I love hanging out with people. I love getting to know all different types of creatives. I love guiding them to free educational resources, finding speakers speaking when I feel qualified on a topic, and just getting the chance to try something new in that in terms of leadership and growing community and stepping my foot into the educational world.

How about you, Kristine?

One thing that I did was when I first started shooting weddings, I actually started shooting film too so I was shooting film and digital right from the beginning of my business, just because I knew that’s where I wanted my business to go. And I knew that this type of style was 100% me and what I wanted and what I wanted for my clients, so I just went in and did it.

So Kristine, what is one thing you feel like you are great at in your business?

I think with my love for landscape photography, as well as getting those timeless and joyful images of my clients, I’ve been able to mesh those two together just to get them the best of both worlds as well as the scenery, but also these beautiful moments from the two of them.

What about you, Ashley?

I think I really excel in terms of my relationships with my clients and just being able to turn on the outgoingness when I need to, to just help my clients get really comfortable in front of the camera, get comfortable with me build a relationship pretty quickly in a great way so that we can have a bond and they can feel comfortable in front of my camera.

That really translates throughout their whole experience from getting to know them and a consultation to an engagement session to the wedding day and beyond. I just love getting to build that relationship. And I feel like it feels silly to say you’re good at building relationships, but it feels like that’s something that I don’t have too much trouble with which I translate that into being great.

IN CLOSING

That was so fun. We’re so glad we got to answer some of those questions, and you’re going to hear all of our guests answer those questions as well. We hope you join us on the journey that the podcast Dare to Develop is about to be.

We can’t wait to hear from amazing guests like Julie Paisley, Daniel Kim, Eric McVey, the ladies behind Invision Events, and so many more.