We were lucky to catch up with Madeline J recently and have shared our conversation below.

Madeline, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

This is such a common topic these days. The stability in having a “regular job” is unmatched. You know what is expected of you and you work on team with other people to strive towards collective goals. A 9-5 means you don’t worry where your next paycheck is coming from and you are working set hours instead of around the clock. Those are things I miss about my corporate job, absolutely. But for the most part, I am incredibly grateful for being able to have full creative freedom and flexibility in my day to day. I make my own schedule and decide how much work I want to or am able to take on at one time. I do believe to some extent creatives need this flexibility. It can be a double edged sword if you take on too much work and get “burn out” but if you find a balance and take proper time away you can really strike a balance where you can keep your creative juices fueled in parallel with running your business. (or working your creative job!).

Madeline, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Maddy, The owner of Madeline J Studios: Destination Wedding Photography based Colorado.

I’m an adventure-loving wedding, elopement, and lifestyle photographer. I believe in capturing inclusive love stories for any humans.

I started my photography career shooting concerts. There’s nothing more electric than your favorite band putting on a live show just for you. It’s magic. Capturing that feels like lightning in a bottle. I continued to grow my photography business doing portraits and eventually starting to shoot weddings. Many years later, I now focus on primarily on capturing couples.

I foster authentic moments with people and capture them to create the photo documentary style photography you see in my work. Creating a comfortable atmosphere is the first step to help people can showcase themselves unapologetically and freely. Think about how silly you are with your best friend and how much you laugh and feel like you can be yourself. That is the goal for candid and timeless photography. No matter what you look like or who you love – I will do everything I can to accommodate and capture your love in an honest and respectful way. I have people tell me all the details about themselves from their names to their favorite flavor of ice cream. The more I know the better I will be equipped to really understand a love story and incorporate elements of each unique relationship on camera. I believe that with the right lighting, genuine chemistry, and some classic dad jokes we will create the most epic, candid, and timeless photographs together.

I primarily focus on documentary-style wedding and elopement, and portrait photography. I truly want to reflect the energy you bring back to you and let that be an organic style true to who you are and how your story unfolds.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Go buy a few books on business. Being a small business owner means you wear a ton of hats. Marketing, PR, Customer Service, Accounting, Taxes, etc. You really need a base understanding of a lot of these topics so that you can make decisions on how you want to run your business. This in turn affects everything. There’s so much personal power in understanding how to market to the audience you want to work with! You can save money if you understand what is tax deductible. You can hold a reputation for easiest to work with in your industry so people continue to want to work with you. You steer the ship so knowing a little about good business can take you far.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Being creative takes a lot of courage. It’s like standing on stage in front of a live audience delivering a speech. It’s taking your hardships and channeling them into a painting because you need an outlet to express yourself. It’s like singing a cappella. Being creative feels a lot like showing yourself to the world. People don’t think of creative work as someone showing their heart and soul, but many times that is exactly how a creative feels when they are showing their most creative work.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.madelinejstudios.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/madelinejstudios

Image Credits
Madeline J Studios