Amanda Kraft is a photographer and holistic health coaching living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She photographs high school seniors and recently created Stop Editing, Start Living to help creative professionals regain control of their businesses, so they can live the life they have always dreamed of. Most days she can be found coaching her clients, preparing gourmet dinner, relaxing with her husband or enjoying the open road in her jeep. Read part 1 and part 2 of this series before continuing ahead.

In Front Of The Lens

Have you ever become the subject of a guests camera at a wedding? You know, the crazy uncle who wants to take a photo of the photographer taking photos. I never understand the importance but, that isn't the reason for this post. A few years ago, I was the unfortunate subject of a guests camera and my super sweet bride mailed a copy of the photo to me. I was instantly horrified! How did I get here? I knew I gained some weight, but I looked like I ate an Olsen twin. For those of you who aren't photographers and maybe had head shots taken recently and weren't exactly thrilled with, you might be able to relate to this. 

Truthfully, my diet was pure garbage. Leading up to an event I would carb load in order to make it through the day. In my mind, I thought I was preparing to compete in an ironman competition and having HUGE pasta dishes were what I needed to make it through an 8 hour day of shooting. During the week, I was sitting on my butt editing and eating whatever I wanted, because in my mind, I had “worked out” enough at the wedding over the weekend. My diet consisted of sodas and carbohydrates – not discriminating between products that lived in a box or a bag. Saying that I was “too busy” became a convenient excuse to do not do something about my health and wellness. Along the way, I allowed my business to swallow me whole. Every dime I made was invested back into my business for a new piece of gear, another set of actions or template that I didn't really need or a seminar that wasn't exactly aligned with the direction I wanted to take my business in. In retrospect, a portion of my profits should have been invested into my personal development along with getting me well both physically and mentally. 

All of this lead to a massive meltdown on my closet floor one evening before my husband and I attended a birthday party. In that moment of crocodile sized tears, clarity set in and if I didn't regain control of myself, my business would never survive. The moment I cleaned up my diet, made morning workouts part of my daily routine, my overall attitude began to change. Email requests, phone calls or deadline that had once bothered me no longer frustrated me, I had massive amounts of energy, began to loose weight and clients who had booked me months prior took notice. If that wasn't motivation enough, I don't know what could be. 

You're asking yourself “How do I get from burnt out, stressed out and a to list longer than my arm, and maybe a few pounds heavier than I want to be to living the life I have always wanted?” First of all, you have to want to change. If you don't have the fire from within to change your life than no one can help you. One of the easiest ways to start to feel clearer, lighter and happier is to change what you are eating. Now, let me say that I am not suggesting that you become a vegan, vegetarian, juice junkie, go paleo or only surviving on twigs for the rest of your life*. What I am guiding you toward is eating whole foods that are not only going to fuel your body, but allow you to appreciate real food again. With all of the changes I've suggested in the previous posts about getting your business under control, it makes sense to slowly transition into cleaning up your diet. You will be amazed at the amount of clarity and focus you will have throughout the day once you stop treating your body like a trash can. New levels of energy are going to push through and your going to sleep better than you have in months. Let me caution you by saying this: Just because you defined your schedule, created boundaries and are now on track to eating clean doesn't means that you can put in one week of effort and then slack off. This is something you will need to work out until it becomes second nature. 

Getting Back To Square One With Your Diet

Start Drinking Water – what a concept right? One that so many people over look. I was a 2 liter of soda a day kinda girl. No wonder I piled on the pounds and couldn't sleep at night. I had claimed for years that water didn't taste good. One day, I quit drinking soda cold turkey and became a water-holic. On a rare occasion, I will treat myself to a soda and the moment I do, my body feels sluggish, my sleep pattern is effected for days and all of that isn't worth the few sips of the cola. 

Get Walking – it's quick, easy and free. Take an early morning walk with your dog, friends or your kids. You know those friends or neighbors you never see because you are editing non-stop, now it time to catch up and do a non-work related activity. Silence all of the notifications you get on your phone and soak in the moment and enjoy the fresh air. The emails and texts will still be there when you get back. 

What's On Your Plate – this is where my tough love is going to come in. I am going to keep it real for a minute. You are big, bad ass and awesome enough to run your own business, than you are big, bad ass  and awesome enough to control what you put on your plate. What you eat, order and pick up at the grocery store starts with you. If you allow the processed junk food into your house than guess what you are going to eat … junk food! Of course, no one is making you fill the bowl to the top with sugary cereal or throw down a double bacon cheeseburger with a jumbo sized fry. If you truly want to get healthy than you need to be aware of what is going on your plate and into your body. 

What's For Dinner – Plan, Plan and Plan some more. If you find yourself ordering take out 5 nights a week – something needs to change. Two things are happening: you are consuming an unbelievable amount of calories and you are draining your bank account. Think back to when you were a kid, dinners out were a treat. Maybe you went out and celebrated a parents new job or an “A” on a test you had been studying really hard for. Not because mom was “too busy”. How many hours do you spend on Pinterest looking up dinner ideas – yet, you haven't made a single one for your family. Stop pinning and start cooking!  

Once you start to take responsibility for yourself and what you put into your body amazing things are going to happen. Honor yourself by fueling your body and mind with foods that are going to provide you with energy and longevity, not those that weigh you down physically and mentally.  

*I completely support vegan, vegetarian, juicing, paleo and clean eating lifestyles and want you to realize that not one lifestyle works for everyone. You will need to do a bit of research to find out what works best for you.

By now, you've seen the newly designed Tiffinbox website. You've probably also noticed the tag line – “Inspiring Photographers”. It's no accident that I chose that as the focus of this site. Every post, every interview, indeed every review of a product or a service you read hear is qualified by that mantra – “Does this inspire other photographers?” If it does, then, well, it gets published.

The other (perhaps I'm being clever) way to read “Inspiring Photographers” is that the site will be about highlighting those photographers who inspire me/us. I announced in 2011 the first annual Tiffinbox award. It went to the intrepid, humanitarian photographer, David DuChemin. In 2012, I chose Brooklyn based photographer, Spencer Lum for his imagery and erudite blog posts on Ground-Glass.

This year, I ask you all to stand up and applaud the work of Jamie Swanson, a wedding photographer based in Wisconsin. I would be remiss if I just mentioned her as a wedding photographer. You see, Jamie is a tour-de-force in the photography blogging world. You may already know that she publishes The Modern Tog, helping thousands (I am not kidding) of photographers get a grip on pricing their work, managing their clients and finances, producing questionnaires for clients and even coaching photographers to do in-person sales.

One of my favorites is her Email Templates For Photographers because it has helped me streamline my business.

Her near-daily email newsletter is written from the heart and from her personal experiences as a mother of four beautiful children. What I love about Jamie's blog posts is that they always seem timely and immediately useful. Her writing is honest, free of fluff and she comes across as being incredibly humble. In a sea of photographers and bloggers, she stands out because she is willing to help. Indeed, so many of the changes you see here on this site are wholly due to her gentle guidance. She is a natural teacher who has your best interests in mind. She, inspires me and I suspect she will inspire you as well.

Just take a look at some of my favorite posts by Jamie:

How to Get Higher Sales & More Clients Using Gift Registries
Should You Look at Other Photographers’ Prices When Setting Your Own Pricing?
Is Your Appearance Hurting Your Photography Business?
How to Find Balance in Your Photography Business
How to Raise Your Photography Prices Significantly Without Losing All Your Clients

There are a whole lot of other such posts on her site The Modern Tog. Go check them out and sign up to receive little gems of wisdom from her in your inbox. You and your business will be better for it. Still on the fence and want to get a better sense of how she writes? Download this free e-book, “5 Common Mistakes That Lose You Business.”

Full disclosure: Because I derive so much value from Jamie's products, I have signed up as an affiliate partner where I make a small commission that helps support this website. When you buy using any of the links above, I get to bring you more great inspiring information for free.

Britney Gardner is an album designer and wedding photographer in Portland, Oregon. She owns Willow Album Design and co-owns Turn Loose the Art with her husband. When not photographing or designing, she can be found tending her organic garden or spending time with her ridiculously adorable son, Finn Danger.

I’ve been designing wedding albums for over ten years. I’m not ashamed to say that those first few albums I designed were absolutely atrocious, because I learned from the early experiences. I still make the occasional bad decision, but avoiding trends is the number one way to designing better wedding albums.

1. Avoid Trends

In the following few spreads, you'll note the toning of each image on the spread is consistent and all images are either black and white or natural looking color. While actions are fun to play around with on a few special images, it's important to keep similar images across a spread (and preferably an entire section of the book or the whole album).

One of the easiest ways to help yourself become a more efficient wedding album designer is to keep it simple! The fewer images on a spread, the easier it is to find a good flow. The less going on in those images, the better. And when you do have a beautifully composed, layered image, feature it well!

2. Keep it Simple!

Our favorite image from Eric and Katie's wedding was indoors in a library to escape a dreary and rainy day. We couldn't go full bleed with the image due to size restrictions, so I chose a similar image to accent the main image.

Another great example of keeping it simple, mix in a few details with a good scene setter. In this case, the details of the cake nearby lead your eye right to the main action of the ceremony. This was a wedding with very few visual distractions, so the album needed to follow suit.

The third way to ensure your client will hold a memento from the wedding they want to share with everyone they know? Make sure they love it! If you pre-design as I do, consider allowing a full round of unlimited revisions so they get exactly the photos and album they want. If you design from a list your client submits, talk to them about filling in more images as needed to create a design with good flow. Doing either of these things will give your client the sense that the design is theirs.

3. Give the Client Ownership

People love their pets, so what better way to make an album more meaningful than include their fur babies?

Photographers love establishing shots because we are visual storytellers. Sometimes, though, a client may wish to crowd in more face images. The best way to combat this and provide your client with a wellrounded product is to consider both while designing. Khalid and Priya's album provided an opportunity for just that during the portrait session of them outdoors. It makes me happy as the photographer and the client happy for getting in some closeups of them.

The following spreads also do a great job of showcasing images that we, as photographers, might make at any wedding. Since we see them all the time, we might not be as excited about them as the client. It's important to remember that to the client, a lot of thought went into the customs, traditions, details, and moments that make up their wedding day. These spreads show good examples of mixing in those personal touches to add to the story rather than retract.

In all these things, the goal is to create a better wedding album design for your client. The end product is their record of their wedding. A timeless wedding album they can share with everyone they know is the best advertising you don’t have to buy.