MADI // austin, tx
/
Madness I tell ya....
/
I have had so many people ask for this class again.... here you have it. ONE night, TWO hours. One hour of challenging yourself creatively with how you market your business followed by one full hour of open question and answer time. Seats to this will go quickly. This class will be a light bulb moment for you and together we will start your new year off on the right foot. If you are not making the money you want or are working way too hard to make what you do... this class will change that.
Let me tell you a little about me, I am a momma to FOUR. and as much as I wanted to believe it would get easier the older they got, I am being proven VERY WRONG. Life has flown by and my babies are now teenagers...DID YOU HEAR ME? TEENAGERS!!!! Which means many school nights playing some sort of ball, ball that I do NOT want to miss out on. I love what I do and I love the relationships I make with each client...but it will NEVER compare to the relationships I have in my own home. So I had to stop working 4 nights a week and figure out how to make more so I could work less. I wasn't willing to compromise on the money, if I was going to sacrifice time away from my family I was going to be compensated for it no matter what...this is NOT a hobby for me, it is a JOB.
So I changed the way I marketed myself and to whom I was marketing and have made it where I can shoot four times a month...yes I only walk out of my house to shoot FOUR times a month (and then do 4 order sessions...so I am away from home at most eight evenings a month) and I make the money I want to contribute to my families income.
I will break down where I went wrong and how I had to change the way I thought to make this job work for ME and my family. It is not rocket science. I will not push you beyond realistic expectation, I will just show you there is an easier way of doing things and you will basically be prequalifying your potential clients so there is no more tears of disappointment after your order sessions.
who's with me?
email me at INFO@SPANKIMILLS.COM and reserve your seat for only $99!!
Come in your Pajamas, with a warm cup of tea or a nice glass of wine. it will be a relaxing evening cram packed full of crazy info to help you get this new year started off RIGHT!
i tried...
/
but I seriously don't have words for this guy. Let me start with his "story"
he was working in HEB and a lady came through his line and told him he had "that look" got his email and sent his info to an agent.
He needed headshots.
I was hosting a workshop and I needed models.
two worlds collided and here we are...
2 years later. One Adam Sandler movie, Pitch Perfect 2, upcoming audition for American Horror Stories, a music contract with Universal Records... and now it is time for more headshots.
here I introduce to you, Dymyll.
Delight and Be.
/
I am honored to be able to donate a mentoring session to help raise money for the Delight House. To see more on the houses progress and to hear about this amazing cause visit Delight and Be .
Mentorships are on SALE for $250! Y'all that is NUTS! A FULL HOUR for #250!!! and it goes to an amazing organization! Let's chat about photography, business, time management, ANYTHING...I am an open book and ready to hear your heart and goals and help get you where you want to be! Go to the Delight and Be Store and sign up now... you only have a few days left!!!
now booking TWEENS...
/
Whoa. I am hooked. This sweet 14 yr old is the MOST AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL girl inside and out and I am in love with shooting the raw and pure beauty of this young age. 
The Theit Bag.
/
I was asked to share what is "in my bag" so here you are... This is my new Theit Bag. I love it! I don't carry much equipment with me, ok who am I kidding... I don't OWN a bunch of equipment. Remember that time I sold everything I owned on Facebook except my camera body and ONE lens and decided if I couldn't love my work with just the basics I needed to just quit...yah so here we are! I ended up creating a style and loving the simplicity of it and 5 years later I have only added three more lenses and that is it! 
Most of you know how simple I am and how that transfers into my shooting style as well. When I sold all of my equipment I sold my Canon 5D Mark II and all the L senses I had acquired and bought myself a Nikon D700 and the 50mm f/1.4 lens. I have added the Nikor 85mm f/1.4 and the Nikor 35mm f/1.4 and the Lensbaby Composer Pro Edge 80 optic to my stash and that is ALL! I will break it down for those of you who want to know why I have what I do... I shoot with the 50mm about 75% of the time mainly because it is what I am most comfortable with and I have grown used to being able to reach out and fix a fly away hair or fix a strap that is showing. I am what they call a "touchy feely photographer" and I like it. I have recently (within the past year and a half) started shooting with my 35mm a lot more, mainly with my lifestyle family session. Most of those sessions are in my clients home or on downtown streets and because of that I want to fit is as much of the surroundings as I can. I have the 85mm but I will be honest, I just don't shoot with it that much. I have tried and I feel like one day I will fall in love with it like the rest of you but because I love being all up in my clients face this lens makes it hard for me and I feel like I need to write a post card to my client when I am shooting with it. I won't part with it because I WILL give it another try.... I promise! and my Lensbaby, ooooh how I adore my Lensbaby. We all come to those cross roads where we start to question our own art and our heart for it. As you have read in the past, I came to that point where I just didn't love what I was creating anymore and I decided to let it all go, I added the LB to my arsenal and it has defiantly pulled me out of a creative rut and allowed me to shoot carefree and let go of the "expected" . I also carry 3 Hoodman Steel 16GB cards with me (because I think they are the best and paired with the Hoodman card reader there is NOTHING faster). That is it y'all. That is "what's in my bag". Let me know what is in YOUR bag and if there is anything I MUST get! Any questions? ask away! :)
IMAGE CREDIT: Brylen Mills my 13 yr old son! ;)
I wanna see you smile...
/
Let me take your picture, baby I’ll save it for a rainy day. I don’t need much, I guess I’m just old fashioned in that way. So on the count of three, let's see you 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3!
Smile
Life's a dance.
/
"The longer I live the more I believe...You do have to give if you wanna receive. There's a time to listen, a time to talk....And you might have to crawl even after you walk. Had sure things blow up in my face, seen the longshot win the race.
Been knocked down by the slammin' door. Picked myself up and came back for more".
Life throws you curves. Life is not always easy or fair... but it is ALWAYS worth fighting for. I have allowed life to get busy, to take my attention away from my children...my daughter more so than any. I have allowed adult situations to stand in the way of a very carefree and light hearted relationship... and I have seen my mistakes. I am a lover, but more than that... I am a FIGHTER! I will fight with all I have in me to make sure my children KNOW how much joy they bring me. How my heart can not beat without their laughter and hugs. Today is a new me... today I start "life's dance"...MY WAY
I'm goin' back to Cali...
/
Okay so I went and now I am back...but every time I return I ache to go back as quickly as possible! So I have this friend. A friend who supports me through every journey I take. She is "my person". Only one problem...she lives in California and I, well I am in Texas! Her daughter Rachel is a senior and for her birthday her sweet momma decided to surprise her with a gift...a gift of ME! They flew me to them and we spent 3 days together shooting and laughing, making memories and most importantly bonding. Laura and Rachel are like family (as is her husband Chaz and other daughter Charlie) but these two girls get my heart....and love me no matter what! I am so blessed to have found their friendship and honored I was chosen to be such an important part of Rach's senior year memories. It was a week I will never forget! Although I am an Austin, TX photographer...my heart is in California with these amazing friends! 
My baby sister.
/Well I am officially an Austin, TX photographer so it is only right that I get to take pictures of my baby sister and her husband since we are practically neighbors now... right?
here are a few of the "Behind the Scenes" with the iPhone. :) 
Take me down to the river
/
When you grow up in a small town you know everyone pretty much all the way through school. Well Justin and I have grown up together since before I can remember. I have pictures of him I'd love to post...the only thing about that is...well he has REVENGE and so I will stick to our most recent session! ;) This is the cutest family ever. We went to the river and just let the kids be KIDS. I have not kept up with many friends from school as life has gotten busy, but I am glad to say Justin and his family are a part of my families lives and I am so thankful for their friendship!
Marketing Bootcamp
/
Lets get you out of your marketing rut and start the new year with fresh ideas! Together we will make your business work for YOU by starting out how to market to the clients you feel are out of reach! You are worthy of the prices you believe you are... your time and talent are VALUABLE. It's time to stop thinking it is you and step outside your comfort zone to find those clients who will appreciate your talent and VALUE your prices.
We will meet once a week via a live webinar where we will discuss the ins and outs of marketing in a way that works for YOU. (These will be recorded and available for replay) You will be given weekly assignments starting with easy ways to prep your promo and the psychology to the "approach". Together we will create simple events for you to implement this coming year to change the course of your marketing and client reach. Each week we will have time for live Q&A and you will be in a private FB group where you will continue with group support through out the year.
Jan 15- Feb 15
Live meetings each Thursday. (recordings available)
PDF of printable notes.
Pay in FULL : $450
Save your seat: $250 now and $250 due Jan 1
**due to limited availability seats can NOT be refunded, but you are more than welcome to sell your seat on your own in the event you can not make it**
where have I been all summer
/So remember the #riverhouseremodel (those of you who follow me on IG @spankimills) have been watching it all unfold... well here are a few BEFORE and AFTER of my crazy summer project!
blur.
/
That is what this past year has felt like for me. Not because it went by too fast and not because I had so much fun...but because I was lost. I was lost in who I was and what I was creating. I was allowing those voices in my head telling me I am was not good enough to become louder and louder and eventually hold merit within me. I questioned my every being. I became paralyzed in my own doubt and fear.
Am I really an artist? Can I create work others will like? Is the work I am creating anything I even love anymore? If I can't love it why would anyone else? Am I even good enough?
The house is quiet... I look up at the clock, it's 2am...how did I get here? How has this become my life? Fighting back tears as I edit yet another gallery that I am not in love with. One I was almost ashamed to show my client. It hurt so bad to see the work I was "creating" and knowing...KNOWING somewhere within me there was more. But what if that more wasn't what anyone wanted to see. What if no one likes what I create? Since when did I became such the people pleaser? Sure I already had that people pleasing quality inside my personality but this was different. I was allowing that to paralyze me in fear. So afraid I was going to create something that wasn't understood or received by my clients, friends, and followers. So instead of creating freely... I froze. I have spent a year of my life doing something I hated. I loved my clients and by wanting to give them exactly what they wanted, I quit giving myself what I NEEDED. There was a small part of me, maybe bigger than I really even knew, that felt guilty. Like I was a fake. I was offering my clients a product that I didn't believe in. A product that pained me to see once it came off my memory card and hurt even more so to have to look at and pick apart as I was forcing myself to edit and prepare a gallery I could "sell" to them. How can I sell something I was ashamed to show, something I didn't believe in?
I was once in love with what photography offered me. Not only was I helping contribute to my family but I was feeding something deep inside me. I was happy. Where did that go and how do I get back to that place? Am I just an "artist" and we all have to go through this? I am sure that is some of it, but no one ever told me it could get THIS serious.
I decided I was going to quit. Maybe I just lost it, maybe what my mind was telling me was the truth...maybe I wasn't good enough. I wasn't making myself happy, in turn was making my family miserable, and I felt I was cheating clients. Nothing was "good enough" anymore but I didn't know what to do to find where the "enough" was hiding. If you follow me on Facebook you'd notice how this past year I posted very little of my work. It consumed my daily thoughts. It seemed I couldn't break these chains that bound me by the words my mind was telling me.
One day I asked a friend to go on a shoot with me. This time was different thought... I wanted her to shoot...ME. I wanted to express in images how I was feeling. How I was seeing the world through my own fog. Through the blur.
When I got those images back I went through them... and wept. Not one image was in focus yet it was just so clear to me where I was and what I needed to do to get out of this haze. I needed to go and shoot EXACTLY how I was seeing the world at this very moment. For me. No one to give me approval and without the fear that I just may never get it. I needed to stop doing what was comfortable and allow myself to shoot off emotion alone.
I researched images I loved and related to at this very stage in my life. I put them on my screen and began writing down emotions I got from those images. I looked at the images in a way I had never look at anyones work before. I wasn't looking at the beautiful and perfect imagery, I was only pulling off the emotion of the image. I sat and studied those images for hours. I processed those emotions and when I shot for the very next time, I shot without paying attention to the final image... I shot for the final emotion.
I can say for the first time ever I can look at some of my work that is more than 48 hours old and STILL love it (I know you all know what I am talking about). I have come to the conclusion that I may not make everyone happy with my imagery, but those who do trust me to tell their story, will love it and appreciate it so much more because it is shows a tiny piece of their soul. We will not stay in a safe place, we will step out of our comfort zone together.
FIVE things I learned thought out the storms of this past year...
1. Voices in your mind can play really ugly tricks on your heart. Allow yourself to hear them though, if you repress them they will get louder and more nasty with time.
2. You are not perfect, sometimes you are not even good enough...that just means you are relatable and your clients will see a piece of themselves in you.
3. Allow yourself to be vulnerable. It isn't easy to see yourself in the blurry moments but through that your growth will come.
4. Becoming an artist that doesn't play "safe" will narrow down your reach to the masses, but it will strengthen your reach to those whom your work touches.
5. When your heart is telling you it is no longer being fed by what you do, allow yourself to hear its voice.
