Styles change, fashion has seasons, and photographers grow and evolve throughout their careers too. So, how do you navigate stylistic changes while staying true to yourself and without surprising clients?

Marta Ponsko is here to help! She’s navigated her own style as it’s grown and developed throughout the years. While her style is influenced by her love of fashion, Marta has spent years experimenting with styling and lighting techniques, eventually adopting a less-is-more approach when it comes to her closet of props and garments.

In this episode, she shares how that evolution has looked for her, how she’s documented her career through social media in a way that resonates with her clients, and how the brave leaps she has taken have paid off throughout her career.

What’s in this episode:

• [02:53] The family history that influenced Marta’s photography career 
• [08:27] How Marta’s photography style has evolved and how she incorporates fashion into her photography style
• [12:26] Marta’s lighting preferences and how she plays with light and color in her photography
• [23:20] How Marta uses social media to grow her photography brand
• [33:56] How Marta handles the inevitable artistic block that comes her way
• [43:27] The bravest leap Marta has taken in her career and how it’s paid off

If you need a little encouragement to do something out of the ordinary in your photography career, this episode with Marta Ponsko will give you the kick in the pants that you need!

SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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Meet Marta Ponsko

Marta Ponsko is a renowned portrait photographer celebrated for her mastery of studio lighting and vibrant, neon maternity sessions. Beginning her career as a newborn photographer, Marta has evolved into a distinguished artist known for her distinctive, colorful maternity and portrait photography. Specializing in magical glamour-style and nude pregnancy sessions, she uses studio light to craft artistic and captivating portraits that highlight the beauty and essence of her subjects. As a global speaker and photography educator, Marta has participated in numerous conferences worldwide, sharing her expertise and passion for photography. Her highly sought-after portrait and maternity masterclasses attract photographers eager to learn about studio lighting, posing, and creative styling.

Connect with Marta

Visit Marta’s website

Follow Marta on Instagram

Follow Marta on Facebook

Did this episode with Marta make you want to experiment with your style? Check out this episode Glitz, Glam, and the Gift of Art: Creating Luxury Photography Experiences with Jai Mayhew

Transcript

[00:00:00] Marta: That was the thought that came to me. And the moment I closed the door behind the model, I said, okay, I need to talk about it to my audience, that we have such a power to get people back into our studio, but we keep on focusing on getting new followers. How much time, effort, money you need to spend. get a new customer and how much time and power you have to spend on getting someone back.

[00:00:27] It’s much easier, right? But we forget about it. We value more the new ones. We forget about the ones that already know us and know what to expect from us.

[00:00:40] Lisa: Hey friend, welcome to the Art and Soul Show. I’m your host, Lisa DiGeso, a mom, a photographer, and entrepreneur. Tune in here for pep talks, conversations, and advice on photography, creativity, mindset, business, life, and that messy in between. This is the place where you can go when you need a boost of encouragement, a kick in the [00:01:00] pants, and inspiration to pick up your camera.

[00:01:02] This is the art and soul show. Hello, my beautiful friends. Welcome back to the show today. I’m super excited to dive into today’s conversation with Marta Ponsko. Marta is a renowned portrait photographer celebrated for her mastery of studio lighting and vibrant neon maternity sessions. Beginning her career as a newborn photographer, Marta has evolved into a distinguished artist known for her distinctive colorful maternity and portrait photography.

[00:01:29] She specializes in these magical, glamour style and nude pregnancy sessions. She uses studio light to craft artistic and captivating portraits that highlight the beauty and essence Of her subjects as a global speaker and photography educator. Marta has participated in numerous conferences worldwide, sharing her expertise and passion for photography, her highly sought after portrait and maternity masterclasses.

[00:01:51] They attract photographers eager to learn about studio lighting, posing, and creative styling. Now, if you’ve been living under a rock, you. Don’t know who she is because she is [00:02:00] everywhere on social media. She’s all over my instagram page I am so delighted to hang out with her today because she’s not only funny.

[00:02:06] She’s entertaining She is smart and i’m really excited about this conversation. So welcome marta 

[00:02:13] Marta: Well, thank you very much for having me here on this podcast. I’m really looking forward to meet all the people who are watching it and getting inspired by it and also learn from it as well. So thank you very much.

[00:02:26] I’m so honored to be here. 

[00:02:28] Lisa: I love it. Well, share with us how your photography journey started. Where is the beginning? Oh, the beginning, I think it’s in my primary 

[00:02:38] Marta: school somewhere. Like, like I know that most of the female photographers, they usually say, Oh, I started when my kids showed up and I then realized that I need to do something with my career path.

[00:02:53] But I think that when I personally dig deep into my roots, the beginnings of my photography [00:03:00] journey started in my primary school when my father bought the first camera. And I had a desire to take pictures, but unfortunately, I was not allowed to, so I had this desire the whole life long until I got my first camera, which was pretty late, uh, when I was during my studies.

[00:03:22] And then I started taking some self portraits. And unfortunately, because I had to work and I had to earn money, I gave up photography because that was not a career that was supposed to bring money and, you know, bring also some kind of, I don’t know how to call it. 

[00:03:41] Lisa: There was a perception that if you were a photographer way back then, you’d be a starving artist.

[00:03:46] Marta: Yes, absolutely. Yes. Like every artist, like every artist. So yeah, that’s, uh, that’s how it went from having a passion, then realizing I cannot do it a full time job. And then I met my husband and he finally said, [00:04:00] how about going into something that you truly love? And that’s why I’m here today. I love it. He was the trigger for that change and for me deciding that I want to change my life.

[00:04:13] And instead of working for a company, for someone, having a boss, and working 9 to 5 p. m., working by myself and doing what I truly love. I love that. How long have you been a photographer? I just made the decision 10 years ago. And then I realized I’m pregnant. So I had to keep up this idea of switching from, you know, a good well paid job into a photography career for a year and a year later.

[00:04:43] So nine years ago, I decided to. I love it. 

[00:04:49] Lisa: And so you started with newborn and sort of everything sort of morphed into you can tell that you have this huge passion for maternity posing and photography. Do you have a modeling [00:05:00] background? I have to ask because you are the best model. 

[00:05:05] Marta: Oh, thank you very much.

[00:05:06] That’s, that’s something that I’m truly passionate about. However, I have never been a model and to be honest, I was very shy. Yeah. Uh, the whole life long, I didn’t want to be exposed, seen by other people. I didn’t like it. And that’s why at the very beginning of being a photographer, I was not comfortable with photographing women.

[00:05:31] Yeah. Because I didn’t understand what What’s the posing thing is about and why I should pose. I was a typical beginner, beginner photographer who asked the model to pose herself. Yeah. That’s this, uh, embarrassing thing about me that you now know that my beginnings of my career were very weird. And then, uh, I, when I was with my second child, pregnant with the second child, I had this.

[00:05:59] [00:06:00] interesting experience of being photographed by my husband during a, uh, a journey to Italy among crowd of other people who were visiting some cities. And we were in, uh, we were in Venice and, uh, he was taking pictures of me being pregnant among some, so many people surrounded. I was surrounded by like thousands of people.

[00:06:22] This was, the city was packed with people because it was a bank holiday. And only then I realized. What it is to be a model, how it is to feel as a model and how to be admired, how it is to be admired by other people and what it means, this admiration and, you know, positive vibes during the photo shoot.

[00:06:44] And then I decided to switch genres between newborn and maternity and I started to work on my self confidence. And that’s how I end up here. With those posing skills that I trained by [00:07:00] myself in front of the mirror. So it was not something that I was born with. It was not something that I got through profession.

[00:07:06] It was just my hard work, working first of all, my head and my perception of my body and how I look and do I look good or not. And, and also being judged by others, because this is something that blocks everyone, right? That we think everyone thinks about us bad things. So yeah, processing that in my head helped me a lot.

[00:07:29] Lisa: I love that. I think 

[00:07:30] Marta: I 

[00:07:30] Lisa: love that. Yeah. Now, your work really has indicative of sort of high fashion quality to it as well. So do you find yours inspired by fashion, by fashion magazines, or are you just like, nope, I just do whatever I want? 

[00:07:43] Marta: No, fashion magazines definitely, yes, and fashion photography.

[00:07:47] However, I’m also inspired I think mostly by like TV series, movies, uh, music videos, 

[00:07:58] Marta: uh, all the arts [00:08:00] where light plays a huge role. So when you look at the movies, how the movie lighting works, it’s something that I would like to incorporate in my photography. It’s like my photographs are some, something between fashion style photographs and movie stills.

[00:08:16] Yeah. Right. Something or, or a music video still something in between. That’s what, uh, what my intention to, to incorporate into my workflow and into my style is. 

[00:08:27] Lisa: I love that. So how do you feel your artistic vision has sort of evolved over the years? It’s 

[00:08:34] Marta: evolved significantly. I think that at the very beginning, my whole style was based around outfits, props, accessories.

[00:08:45] And, uh, at some point I realized that it’s not the good direction, at least not for me. My passion in my styling and in my style should be evolving around something else, which is posing and lighting. And this is something that I can incorporate as a key [00:09:00] factor, changing the, the vibe mood of the image, but also changing the shape of the model and her, the way she’s perceived, right?

[00:09:11] We can make our models look like princes or. wherever, whatever figure we want them to be, right? So, lighting is helping me with that. So, I think that at the very beginning, I was also following the fashion trends. Yeah. More into, you know, reflecting and responding to The needs of my customers and now I’m rather creating style that my customers are coming for.

[00:09:39] That’s also a significant change, not only in styling, but also in the way I do my business. So this is how I changed my business as well. To take the whole responsibility for creating the image. and for the mood and atmosphere on the session instead of just recreating something [00:10:00] that the customers are requesting me to do.

[00:10:03] Lisa: Yeah. What I, what I really love about your work is that you’re relying on your technical skills. You’re relying on posing, you’re relying on lighting. You’re not relying on shopping your way to better photography, which I think is sort of a trap that a lot of photographers get in, where Where it’s like, Oh, I’ll be better once I get another dress or I add another outfit to my client closet.

[00:10:23] So I love that you’re just a really good example that you don’t have to keep shopping your weight because that’s actually not the way to get better at photography. 

[00:10:32] Marta: Yeah, absolutely. We are not in my studio today. However, if you looked at my closet, I mean, there are a lot of things, but there are not things that I’m buying like a typical photographer, which means like I’m doing bulk shopping with so many dresses.

[00:10:48] It’s packed in the parcels delivered by couriers to my studio. Now, I actually order just a couple of things per month, but these purchases are well thought [00:11:00] and are consistent with the style that I have. So I don’t buy something that might be too expensive. Be in the future needed but something that is absolutely needed for now and for 

[00:11:10] Lisa: today Do you find that you had a point in your photography career that you were falling into that trap of you know?

[00:11:19] Trying to keep up with all those different outfits and dresses and how did you decide that you didn’t want to take that route? 

[00:11:27] Marta: When I was a newborn photographer It’s a, it’s an addiction of newborn photographers like I had that full track of outfits in my studio. So that was a trap. I thought that I would need more and more and more and more because you never know what the customer will request.

[00:11:49] Like this shade of white or this yellowish shade of white, right? 

[00:11:54] Lisa: Yeah. 

[00:11:55] Marta: So, um, At some point, I, I just stopped buying, [00:12:00] saying I don’t need that anymore. I just need to learn how to combine things together so they are the same things, but the same ingredients, but, but, but used in a different way. Right? So the same with outfits for maternity, I’ve got limited amount, however, I know how to make them look different by lighting.

[00:12:22] Posing, all the things that I can play with in my studio. 

[00:12:26] Lisa: I love that. Now, do you specifically only shoot in studio or do you shoot outdoors as well? No, I shoot only in my studio. I love it. And you can control the weather, you can control the light, the time. I love it. Cause I have, I do sometimes I’ll do a little bit of family photography.

[00:12:43] as well. All three of my shoots this month had to be rescheduled because of the weather. 

[00:12:47] Marta: Yeah. You know, that’s the disadvantage of being an outdoor photographer. Although I think that other photographers have much easier life. I mean, when you look at the IRR, which is an [00:13:00] interest return rate from the business, you just invest less when you are doing outdoor photography, right?

[00:13:07] Most of the expenses are on the customer’s side. Please bring this out a bit. When you are in the studio, you need to invest in it quite significant amount of money in the equipment. If you want to play with the equipment, right? With the lighting, for example, because then relying on only one light and one modifier will not help you to achieve different results.

[00:13:28] However, having this Consistency in lighting, weather, conditions, you know, you, you come there and you can replicate the same schemes all over again. If you like it, that’s the, the powerful thing 

[00:13:45] Lisa: about working in studio. A hundred percent. I, I shoot studio light with newborns and it’s so funny cause sometimes I try to push and I’m like, maybe today I’ll do natural light.

[00:13:55] And inevitably it is a sunny cloudy sunny cloudy day where my settings change all day [00:14:00] long. And I’m like, Lisa, you know, you know, you love studio light, you know, it’s consistent. Why are you fighting this?

[00:14:10] Marta: So silly. I was there too for just a couple of months. However, I was there too and I was like struggling a lot. And I said, I need to have very strict conditions, which can be foreseen any time of the day I go into the studio. And that’s great. 

[00:14:30] Lisa: And what I also love too, is when, when you understand light properly and when you understand light and lighting systems and all the different ones that are out there, when you go and teach, I’m sure you’re able to just easily slip into, okay, I just got to familiarize with this one.

[00:14:45] I know what to do because you know, light. And I think that’s a skill that. Um, sometimes gets a little bit missed in the learning journey of understanding light and how to be a master of it. So what advice do you have for someone who is [00:15:00] new to studio lighting, is a little bit scared of it and not really sure where to start?

[00:15:06] Marta: Well, first of all, you need to learn the settings of your lighting and what those settings mean. Um, How they will change and you need to learn the basics of lighting. Okay, so how do you change shadows? How do you change highlights? And then you need to experiment, experiment and then experiment. I’m the type of a person that does not learn from manuals.

[00:15:29] YouTube, reading, or anything like that. I need to touch and feel and, and understand what will be the result by experimenting this today. And I think that this is the best way to learn. If you’re not that type of a person, just follow some tips and tricks that you might find right now, everywhere. 

[00:15:50] Speaker 4: Like 

[00:15:50] Marta: it’s right now, internet is full of free knowledge.

[00:15:55] Everywhere, just people don’t know how to find it properly [00:16:00] or sometimes they don’t have time for that, which is even a worse thing, right? We don’t have time to do that. And there are also a lot of online workshops or workshops that you can attend. Just choose the teacher wisely because you need to understand first what you want to learn and do it step by step, not everything at once.

[00:16:22] Lisa: I completely agree. So what advice do you have for photographers that maybe want to get in gels and they want to start playing with light and they’re looking at developing their creative style, but they’re not really sure how to approach that with their clients. What advice do you have for that? 

[00:16:38] Marta: You mean you are asking if customers are not familiar with their style or not familiar with gels, but you as a photographer want to implement that.

[00:16:47] Implemented gradually as well. Not don’t change your style significantly from Monday, the 1st of November, because those people who are following [00:17:00] you today and who booked you in the future, most probably will get a little bit surprised and might feel unsure what they will get in the future. Because they, they booked you when you presented a different style.

[00:17:14] Today, you want to implement something new. However, do it gradually, which means that try to sneak in something new and also check what people think about it, but don’t treat this, these opinions as something bad. For sure. And something that determines your final decisions, because if I relied on the opinions that I got after I posted my first image with gel colors years from now, I wouldn’t be here today.

[00:17:45] Yeah. Because everyone said like, Okay. It’s interesting. However, I’m not sure if I would buy it because changing style always means that you need to address it [00:18:00] to totally different, new audience and changing style or introducing something new requires finding someone who will love it. So don’t expect hooray and oh my God, what she’s doing from your existing followers, existing customers, because most probably they will say like, No.

[00:18:21] Right? And be patient with that because it requires time to introduce this new style to your offer. Yeah. I 

[00:18:30] Lisa: love that. That’s a really great answer. 

[00:18:31] Marta: And I think that most students, when they try to introduce something new, they fail because they don’t have, first of all, courage to do it. And then they don’t have patience.

[00:18:45] To, uh, to wait for that customer, for this first customer who comes and says, Oh, I need actually this new thing that you showed like a month ago, right? It usually takes a lot of time. 

[00:18:59] Lisa: I [00:19:00] love that. That’s a good answer. Let’s see. So do you have a favorite photo shoot you’ve done and what made it so special?

[00:19:07] Marta: Mm. I have one. I had one that was. Like eight years ago, seven, eight years ago, I will not recall the name of the girl. However, it was the first time I managed to achieve the result that I wanted, that I have like a vision in my head that I want to create an image that, where I have just a nude body of my model.

[00:19:34] A bit of jewelry and I want the skin to be blue and I want the colors to be everywhere and it wants it to be saturated, vivid and powerful and I want to have this pose that communicates empowerment. And I remember this photo shoot. I did this. I managed to accomplish that. I mean, okay, I got it exactly the way I wanted.

[00:19:57] And I came back home. I was so excited. [00:20:00] This is my style. This is what I want to do. This is what I will introduce in my photography. And this is what I will be selling. And this was the last moment of my happiness because then my husband came in with his opinions and he was like, I know you like it because it’s extraordinary and weird.

[00:20:23] However, you know, honey, I’m not sure if it’s gonna be sold, you know, you need to, you need to check whether there will be people willing to pay for it because I’m not sure. Bless his heart. Yeah, you know what? He’s a very good, he has a very good sense of What most people like. Average consumer needs. Yeah.

[00:20:47] Average consumer taste. He is very good at sensing that. And actually, it’s very good to have someone like that around you. Especially if you have those crazy ideas, you know? Uh, [00:21:00] like you have this artistic vision. which sometimes it’s very difficult to sell. So someone who will, you know, tell you, okay, it’s good to have that, but it’s also good to have that because you need to balance to get, to get to a point when you will be selling this crazy stuff.

[00:21:16] You need to first, you know, gradually go there. So he was that. A reasonable sense of keeping me in, uh, on the ground, 

[00:21:24] Lisa: a 

[00:21:26] Marta: little bit grounded. Yeah, 

[00:21:28] Lisa: I love that. Now you’re passionate about building photography brands and business and marketing. So what advice do you have for a photographer maybe who’s trying to grow their brand?

[00:21:39] Marta: Okay, this is, this is a very good question and I love this kind of questions. I think that the most important thing about building a brand is the fact that you’re, as a photographer, building a personal brand, right? So, you’re the face of your brand. Which is a great thing because this is something that cannot be copied by anyone.

[00:21:59] Um, [00:22:00] and it’s not, I’m not talking about how you look at, I’m talking about how you talk, who you are, what values you have, how you make people feel around you, how you create this experience for your customers. It’s only you. Okay. So one can copy your style, can copy your offer or how the studio looks like, but how you make people feel is something that is important.

[00:22:26] No one can can do it the same way. So be you be sincere. Don’t try to be anyone else. Just be you and and build upon that because that’s the the biggest differentiator on the market and especially now when we have such a saturated market. Yeah, so many photographers and the prices are going down and you know, we see that there’s economic slowdown and the number of customers is a little bit.

[00:22:56] lower than, than in the past. So now it’s [00:23:00] your role to, to faith, to use your face, to use your voice, to, to speak to your customers and potential customers and remind them, this is me. This is, this is how I will make you feel and look. During your photoshoot. Love that. 

[00:23:17] Lisa: I love 

[00:23:17] Marta: that. 

[00:23:18] Lisa: So your social media presence.

[00:23:20] We talked a little bit before we got on the air a little bit about it because I am such a super fan of Marta and her reels because they are not only educational. They’re funny. They are Eye catching. So I want to talk a little bit about your content and how you come up with your ideas for your content and how often you’re putting it out because a lot of photographers, they feel like it’s something that they have to do, not something they get to do.

[00:23:44] And they kind of feel bogged down with it. So I love that you have made it fun because you can, you can tell you’re having fun. 

[00:23:50] Marta: Yes. I, you know what? I mean, I trained myself. I made it a habit, a routine to create it. And I [00:24:00] think that the more you, you get yourself into it, into doing that, the more you get fun out of it.

[00:24:07] It’s just at the very beginning, it was tough. I had the same attitude. Like everywhere, every photographer that I met on my journey is like, I hate it. I’m destined to create art and images. not make funny reels. But yeah, we know, but you know what? The problem is that this is the reality we are living in today.

[00:24:32] And either you adapt or you are out. Unfortunately, that’s how it works. So in the past, you had to do the leaflets, business cards, walking, and you know, uh, using other methods of, uh, of attracting people today, you have totally different tools. Just use it and learn to use it. And I always keep on repeating, fall in love with the process of creating things.

[00:24:59] If you [00:25:00] just love taking pictures. Because you are not going to be a successful photographer. You need to like every step of taking pictures and creating art and also building relationship with the customer. Right? Yeah. So coming back to the topic of reels and creating content for social media, how I do it, well, the first thing is to understand what you want to communicate and what kind of content you want to post, right?

[00:25:28] And that comes with clear understanding of who your audience is and what they want to listen or watch. What is funny for them, not for you, because we sometimes create content that we like, right? And then we watch our own reels, uh, 10 times a day. We’re like, ranging, And then, oh, how many views it has, but half of the views are generated by yourself.

[00:25:59] [00:26:00] Like, I think this is funny. 

[00:26:06] Marta: So. So, yeah, you need to understand what, who, who is your audience? Obviously my audience is totally different from anyone and the other photographers audience, right? So you do not need to know who are they, women, men, what age, when they use social media, what’s the economical status, what they are looking for, what kind of other product they are looking for, or services and things like that.

[00:26:32] And then think. I think a good starting point is to understand or list things that your customers are asking you during the process of, like, through the inquiry up to the booking, right? What kind of questions do you get? And use those questions to For content, like for example, um, can I bring my husband and you’ve got an idea for at least three reels.

[00:26:59] One, when you [00:27:00] talk about it, then when you show behind the scenes with a husband, and then when you actually can use, um, a customer testimonial about how you made them prepared or feel. As a couple during the photo shoot, and then you can also post some pictures. So look from one topic, you’ve got numerous different ideas for, for content.

[00:27:23] So I defined in my strategy, like flip three pillars of topics that my audience likes. So you as photographers like to see posing. Yep. Lighting behind the scenes and a little bit of fun about our business, right? So these are the, the key pillars and I’m focusing on those and trying to, uh, mix them. So it’s not always the same topic.

[00:27:47] Like I see sometimes photographers posting every single day about, uh, about posing. Yeah. So boring, right? After one month of watching that, it’s getting boring. So I try to do include that. many [00:28:00] different topics to make it interesting every single day. 

[00:28:04] Lisa: I love that. That’s how it works. That’s it. I love that.

[00:28:07] I think a lot of the time we tend to overthink it. I know that I am, I could have a master’s degree in overthinking things because I will overthink something to death and then I’ll do nothing. Like I’ll have like 200 ideas for content and then I’ll go, well, I don’t know which one I’m going to do. So I don’t do anything.

[00:28:23] Marta: Yes. That’s, that’s the, that’s the problem. You know, my key advice here is, Create, post and forget and do it now. Now, when you have the idea, like when a customer inspired you to, to, to record something, do it now. Like today, after my photo shoot, I had three customers this week. All of them were returning customers and I made a reel about it.

[00:28:48] That’s it. That was the thought that came to me and the moment I closed the door behind the, the model, I said, okay, I need to talk about it to my audience that we have such a [00:29:00] power to get people back into our studio, but, but we keep on focusing on getting new followers. How much time, effort, money you need to spend to get a new customer and how much time and power you have to spend on getting someone back.

[00:29:18] It’s much easier, right? But we forget about it. We value more the new ones. We forget about the, the, the ones that already know us and know what to expect from us. So this is something that just came to my mind. I posted it and I forget about it. I mean, I don’t. evaluate. Did I make a mistake? Did I speak correctly?

[00:29:40] Oh, are there, there are no comments. Oh my god, maybe that was a bad type of content. No one liked it. No. Just forget. And then move on. 

[00:29:50] Lisa: I love that. Such good advice. It’s post and forget. Like, just put it out there, see what happens. 

[00:29:55] Marta: Yes. 

[00:29:56] Lisa: Right? 

[00:29:56] Marta: I love that. You never know. There will be some, there might be no one [00:30:00] that will relate to it, but one day it’s enough to have just one person who relates to your content and it will be your customer and you can attract this many people.

[00:30:11] A person with just 15 seconds, 30 seconds on one or one minute video, right? Easy as that. I love that. That’s good advice. 

[00:30:20] Lisa: I’m going to take that. I got to start creating. Good luck. I have, it’s so funny because I have like, you know, TikTok, right? So I have probably 300 drafts in my TikTok that I haven’t posted.

[00:30:33] I just How come? Because I get scared. I make them and I get scared. So I need to take your advice of post and forget. 

[00:30:43] Lisa: Yes. Just 300 days of content already created. Just a ridiculous things that I’ve made. Yep. 

[00:30:54] Marta: It’s, I know the other, the other obstacle of the photographers is that, [00:31:00] Oh, this does not fit into my beautiful aesthetics of the feet today.

[00:31:05] Grit, like. Okay, it’s not important anymore. Don’t focus on that because people rarely focus on how your beautiful grid looks 

[00:31:16] Lisa: like. It’s so true. It’s, we, we just, we overthink it. We think it to death and that’s me.

[00:31:24] Now, you mentioned that you work with your husband a little bit, who, he’s an engineer With no artistic background. And so how does that impact your business and your creative process? 

[00:31:35] Marta: I think I wouldn’t be here without him. It’s that, you know, like every artistic person I got, I’m really bad at some things in running our business, like all the technicals, financials and bureaucracy aspects of it.

[00:31:51] And I think that he added this. A missing puzzle into this beautiful business, um, [00:32:00] career, because he knows precise, he, he has capabilities and abilities and skills that I missing. So, uh, yeah, and, uh, I can focus totally on the crazy things and customer relations and social media, which he does not understand at all.

[00:32:16] And he can focus on things that I’m like, yeah, no. Yeah. And he keeps me on track. Like you have to pay the bill for that. You have to do this. You have to do this. You don’t forget to order this and not forget to order this. So that’s how we ended. And we started working together. Seven years ago. Awesome.

[00:32:37] And it’s, it was tough at the very beginning. Yeah. It’s like when you are a business owner and you run everything, all the details of your, uh, uh, of your business, you know how it is to delegate at the very beginning. No, it’s mine. I will not let you do it because I’m the best. I’m designed to, destined to do it.

[00:32:59] [00:33:00] So in the beginnings, we’re like learning that we need to split responsibilities and never ever try to, to fix something that the other person does. Right? Yeah. Like let the other person hold the responsibility and accountability 

[00:33:16] Lisa: for the area. I love that. You kind of have your own lanes that you stay in.

[00:33:21] Yeah. That’s smart. It’s funny because I, when you said about giving up something that you had loved and made yourself, my son was six months old before I ever left my husband alone with him. So I get it. Yeah.

[00:33:38] Marta: It’s exactly the same thing. You can compare it. 

[00:33:43] Lisa: I was like, you know, my baby, my baby. Yeah. So how do you handle any moments you might have of self doubt or creative blocks, especially when balancing running your business and being an artist? 

[00:33:56] Marta: That’s a really good question because this is the disease [00:34:00] that is epidemic disease that affects all the photographers and artists.

[00:34:05] I think that the best thing for me, what works for me is like having a break, like having a break, which means that. Leave the computer, leave everything, and leave your home, and go somewhere, do something totally different, go out, go for a walk, make a fire, I don’t know, wherever, but don’t stay in this environment where, which creates this Lock it in your, in your head and also reminds you about the amount of work that you have, for example.

[00:34:34] So like having a break is very important. And I make sure that I have those breaks regularly, not only short, like going somewhere for a weekend, but, but have like long holidays, two, three weeks. just to miss your work, just to miss your studio, miss dealing with people, miss photographing them. And you cannot do it when you are stuck with work [00:35:00] and you work every single day, like five or sometimes seven days a week.

[00:35:05] So no, that’s not for me. I learned that this does not guide you anywhere. anywhere but to burnout and being stressed, having sleepless nights and thinking only about the work. So having breaks and then doing sometimes what you love, like truly love instead of doing work for your customers, having sessions, paid sessions, do something that you, you can, you want to do just for yourself.

[00:35:39] And it does not have to be the same photography genre. It can be something completely different, right? So we do sports photography, do birds photography, do men’s photography, do boudoir or whatever, but something that’s totally out of your daily routine. [00:36:00] Then you will learn that there are some really nice things.

[00:36:04] Uh, are there areas that you can evolve in that’s the best part of taking these breaks? 

[00:36:11] Lisa: I think it’s so important and I think that’s one thing like when you’re in the hustle and you’re trying to get all these new clients and you’re saying yes to everything that you don’t realize that all those yeses are just going to lead to burnout and you’re going to hit a wall and you’re going to be so frustrated and then all those yeses that you said yes to you’re going to be so resentful that you have to do that work and that you just don’t get to take a breather.

[00:36:35] Marta:Absolutely. Yeah. 

[00:36:36] Lisa: So are you ready for our lightning round? Oh, yes. Okay. Let’s go. Kind of lightning ish. Not really lightning. What’s the most random request you’ve ever had from a client? Could be newborn or maternity. Hmm. Like, 

[00:36:51] Marta: hey, uh, gee, will you do a maternity session with fire? And I was like, like, fire, you mean like, like real fire [00:37:00] or real fire?

[00:37:01] Yes, real fire. And I’m like, um, my studio is like 40 square meters. But like, I don’t know. So I ended up not doing it because it was a request from a wife of a guy who owned the biggest event company. And he had all those crazy things, you know, machines for fog, for confetti, for fire, everything. I didn’t realize that.

[00:37:32] I thought like, Oh, okay. Should I bring like some petrol? That’s funny. I love that. So I was a little bit surprised, but I, uh, allowed them to bring a smoke machine, not realizing that this smoke machine was the size of a, um, of a fridge. like really big fridge, and with the pipe that was like, you know, one meter almost one meter [00:38:00] diameter.

[00:38:00] And when they clicked on just like, and the whole studio and the corridor was with the spoke that that was up to knee level, right? And I was like, I hope they will not You’re not going to set off my alarms? That’s wild. Oh my god, and it stayed like this for two hours, so you know, it was really heavy fog.

[00:38:26] Yeah. Staying down to the, and it affects the lighting, right? Yes. So, I didn’t realize how much it affects the lighting, so I was like panicking. What do we do with that? What do we do? Yeah.

[00:38:42] Lisa: That’s hilarious. That’s hilarious. 

[00:38:45] Marta: That was funny. 

[00:38:46] Yeah, 

[00:38:46] that’s pretty funny. That’s pretty 

[00:38:48] and they they also used confetti and then I still cleaned it two years afterwards. It was absolutely everywhere like everywhere. I found it in in the [00:39:00] electric system backdrop electric system. It was behind the the props in all the props like.

[00:39:06] Everywhere. Oh my God. Confetti never ever 

[00:39:09] Lisa: again. I did a glitter session one time. Oh no, we still have glitter. This was 10 years ago. There’s still glitter.

[00:39:20] So let me tell you something 

[00:39:21] Marta: funny. I think it was one of my, I just recalled that it was my first Christmas mini sessions. I was totally inexperienced and I just saw some inspiration about, you know, children blowing and doing this nice things. And I was like, What are they using for that? Like, 

[00:39:42] Marta: I don’t know.

[00:39:42] Maybe I will use sugar and And then I had this sugar stuck to my floor everywhere and I had a home studio so the It’s just like for the [00:40:00] whole Like, everywhere. You cannot imagine that. Like, what was I thinking? Like, why sugar? That’s funny. But it was nine years ago. Like, this was the first thing that came to my mind.

[00:40:18] Sugar. 

[00:40:19] Lisa: That’s hilarious. That’s hilarious. Oh, I love that. That’s how I eat. What’s your go to snack during a long editing session? 

[00:40:29] Marta: Oh, that’s a crazy one. I love carrots. Carrots. Carrots. Oh. I eat a lot of carrots. Can you tell that I’m orange? No. Yeah, I’m really orange. I mean, my skin is so, everyone says, Oh, you have such a nice suntan.

[00:40:47] It’s not suntan. I’m orange because of 

[00:40:49] carrot. Carrots. Because, yes, I eat a lot of carrots. 

[00:40:54] Lisa: That’s hilarious. 

[00:40:55] Marta: Yeah. Yeah. I like it. I like it. And the second thing is [00:41:00] I love ice cream, so I eat a lot of ice cream and I have my favorite brand. It’s not an advertisement. I love Haagen Dazs macadamia and it’s like I can eat the whole bucket of it by myself.

[00:41:11] I love it. Don’t touch it. It’s 

[00:41:13] Lisa: mine. That’s awesome. I love it. Now, if your photography style had a theme song, what would the theme song be? 

[00:41:23] Marta: Yeah, this is a good one. Yeah, my style would be, do you know the one more shot seal? I don’t actually. You have to listen to it. So it’s one more shot, one more shot, one more shot.

[00:41:37] I could play it all around because it’s one more shot, one more shot, please, one more, last one. Have you done a reel with that 

[00:41:44] yet? Not yet, but it’s my idea.

[00:41:49] Please, 

[00:41:49] one more, one more. But we did 15 setups already. Yeah, but I have this crazy idea I need to have you done. 

[00:41:58] Lisa: Oh, I love it. 

[00:41:59] I love it. [00:42:00] What is something you’re embarrassingly bad at? I’m bad at reading manuals. 

[00:42:10] Marta: Same. Yeah, it’s like, I don’t read them at all. Oh, I can’t. I bought a new light and I even opened it on live so people saw me and I was like, you could see my face expression.

[00:42:27] I opened it and the first thing was manual. I was like,

[00:42:33] no.

[00:42:37] Lisa: I like, I want to see a video. Like if you show, I want to man, like a video, like the manual can be a video and then I will watch it. But if it’s not, I am saying I, I will, I will break Ikea furniture. Because I won’t follow it correctly. 

[00:42:53] Marta: You don’t, you wouldn’t like to see how I was putting the IKEA furniture together.

[00:42:58] [00:43:00] My 

[00:43:00] husband was like, what are you doing? How did you put 

[00:43:03] Lisa: it in 

[00:43:04] Marta: here? 

[00:43:05] Lisa: I don’t know, it fits. I love it. Now, if you weren’t a photographer, what would you be doing? 

[00:43:12] Marta: I most probably would carry on the career of marketing director somewhere, because I was working in marketing for 16 years before I became a photographer.

[00:43:24] Lisa: Wow. That makes sense. So most 

[00:43:25] Marta: probably I would do that. Yeah. 

[00:43:27] Lisa: That makes sense. What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done in your career? 

[00:43:34] Marta: You know what? No matter what you think about me looking at the social media, I’m a, I’m covert. I’m really, I was, used to be very shy and I didn’t believe in my capabilities and skills.

[00:43:45] So I think the bravest thing for me was to start teaching in English, which is not my native language, which is I didn’t, I used to learn English a lot when [00:44:00] I was at school, then during studies, but then for 16 years I was not hardly using it. So when I started to speak in English on social media with, um, thought in mind that maybe in the future I would emigrate and maybe Do something somewhere, like do a photography somewhere.

[00:44:20] I didn’t even think about teaching yet, but like, know, moving somewhere and being a photographer in other country. So that was the brave thing first, like changing everything. Changing my strategy. Communication from Polish to English, and then starting teaching other people in English. Uh, yeah. The first workshop run in English was like, I was scared to death.

[00:44:42] I was really scared. And then it went somehow. Yeah. I’m still scared. 

[00:44:49] Lisa: Your 

[00:44:49] Speaker 3: English is beautiful. 

[00:44:50] Lisa: Your English is gorgeous. You speak beautifully. very 

[00:44:54] Marta: much. Thanks a lot. 

[00:44:56] Lisa: So how do you practice self care after a [00:45:00] stressful week? Well, going out of 

[00:45:02] Marta: home, going for a walk. And we have a family tradition of playing board games.

[00:45:09] Like we have like full closet of board games with kids. We select board games and we play together and that’s our family thing. So that’s how we do it. And we go for holidays quite often, like go somewhere to experience something new and get your head out of home. You know, the problem is when you’re a photographer, you’re not Your home is your work.

[00:45:33] Yes. So it’s very difficult to disconnect. And especially for me, I have my desk with computers and screens in my living room. So I actually live in my office. So in order to disconnect, I need to leave home. Yeah. For me, that’s the most important thing. Go somewhere, do something else. 

[00:45:57] Lisa: That’s good advice.

[00:45:59] [00:46:00] What advice do you have for someone who’s just getting started with photography? 

[00:46:05] Marta: First, don’t be scared and don’t, uh, don’t get stuck with just watching inspiration and being frustrated with what you don’t know, what you don’t have, what kind of camera you don’t have, what lighting you don’t have. Just remember that everyone started the same, in the same place and take small steps at the very beginning.

[00:46:28] Like, identify one thing that you want to focus. per month and work on it with a simple actionable plan without focusing on too many things. So if marketing is your weak point, do it this month. If lighting is your weak point, do it next month. Don’t do everything at once and be brave. Be brave and don’t give up 

[00:46:54] because 

[00:46:55] people give up easily.

[00:46:57] But I, but I can understand why, because [00:47:00] they’re bombed by so many successful stories. They would like to be there already, but it, unfortunately they see just the result, the happy ending, but no one sees a really rough path that everyone went to. So like for you, for me, for any successful photographer, it took years.

[00:47:22] Yeah. Of learning, understanding, experimenting, doing things bad, doing things right, having failures and successes, some small, some bigger. So yeah, remember about that. Everyone had went through similar things. It was not given by granted to anyone. 

[00:47:43] Lisa: That’s good advice. So, where can our listeners learn more from you?

[00:47:49] Oh, that’s a good 

[00:47:50] Marta: thing. Uh, they can learn from me, uh, either by in person workshops, because I teach in person. I travel to different places. locations, [00:48:00] countries, every single year. So this year, actually, I, I have completed all the workshop and I will be, all the workshops that I will be starting next year.

[00:48:10] Um, so I will be having in person workshops in numerous countries. They will be posted on my website, but I also will be available. So first of all, on your newborn retreat, right? And on some conferences for us photographers, you will be able to meet me on, uh, imagine and WPPI. I will be speaking there and also having workshops.

[00:48:32] So yay. Awesome. Oh, how exciting. Yes. And if you are more into one to one personal experience, you can come to my studio. Actually, I have so many people from different. It’s parts of the world coming to Warsaw. It’s a nice place to visit and meet me. And on top of that, I’ve got my own online academy, which is available through my website.

[00:48:58] It’s like an educational program. It’s not [00:49:00] videos that you can buy, but it’s like a eight week program during which I guide my students. Step by step through key processes of getting into a professional, being a professional maternity and creative maternity photographer. So that’s one thing that is what right now my core product, let’s call it like this.

[00:49:23] Lisa: Yes. Well, can you share what you’re going to be teaching on for the online newborn retreat this January? Yes, 

[00:49:30] Marta: I will be teaching powerful lighting and posing for maternity models. Yeah. So how to. Use lighting and posing to create stunning images and differentiate yourself on the market among other photographers.

[00:49:46] Lisa: I love it. Well, we are so excited and we are so thrilled you’re joining us. 

[00:49:50] Marta: Me too. 

[00:49:52] Lisa: Well, I love to end my interviews just with this last question and it is, what are you currently curious about or artistically [00:50:00] curious about? 

[00:50:01] Marta: Now I’m exploring more portrait photography. So I’m trying to diversify my portfolio, not, uh, and not to focus on things that I’m doing All the time, just to make myself more, not too stuck in routine, like doing all the same things all over again.

[00:50:20] So I’m going more into portrait photography and like exploring new lightings, methods and equipment. Something that I didn’t use before because I didn’t know how to use it. 

[00:50:33] Lisa: Yeah. 

[00:50:34] Marta: So like, I developed my technical skills in studio lighting. 

[00:50:39] Lisa: I love that. Well, Marta, thank you so much for joining me today.

[00:50:43] Thank you very 

[00:50:44] Marta: much 

[00:50:44] Lisa: for 

[00:50:44] Marta: inviting me. This was a really nice talk. It was super fun. You make the interviewer very comfortable. Thank you. Well, I loved it and I loved this 

[00:50:57] conversation. [00:51:00] Cannot wait to be with you, with all you guys. It will be in February, right? So in February on the retreat. 

[00:51:09] Lisa: Oh, my beautiful friends, I hope you have loved this conversation just as much as I have.

[00:51:15] I am sending you so much of my light and my love today and every single day. We will see you next time.