Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Megan Posein. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Megan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

How I Supported My Wedding Clients Through the Jasper Wildfires, After Losing My Own Home.

In July of 2024 Jasper National Park received an evacuation alert; two wildfires had started from a lightning storm in two separate areas close to the town site. Residents had a small amount of time to grab whatever belongings they could fit in their vehicles, and leave their homes. For my husband/business partner and I, we went through a fire evacuation list that we had prepared beforehand and started grabbing all of our photography gear and business equipment. With a jeep packed to the roof full of our life’s belongings, we headed out into the night where ash was already raining from the sky.

Soon after we evacuated from Jasper my husband and I learned that not only did our home burn down, but so did 1/3 of our little mountain town. There was a lot of uncertainty of what had actually burned and what was still standing, wedding venues included. I knew that although I was feeling an immense amount of grief, stress and sadness, I would need to start immediately reaching out to my wedding clients. My husband, who also works for the municipality here, quickly went back to work in incident command for the fire- leaving me to work on our business but providing me with important information on what was happening in Jasper.

I got into the wedding industry as a professional photographer because I absolutely love capturing/sharing people’s wedding days with them. Seeing their happiness on one of the best days of their lives brings me so much joy and I’ve always been motivated to do my absolute best to serve my clients. So when the fire ripped through Jasper, I knew that my clients were also stressed and unsure of what that meant for their upcoming mountain weddings. It also meant I needed to continue editing the weddings that I had completed prior to the fire; I’ve never delivered wedding photos late for my clients and I wasn’t about to. Their photos and my customer service are incredibly important to me.

When my community was in the midst of their grief and overwhelm, I was getting the inside scoop on the situation and communicating to my clients everything that I was learning day by day. I soon understood that many weddings that we had booked for the summer season would likely be impossible to shoot during/after the fire so I started coming up with alternate plans to help alleviate their stress as much as possible. I knew that a full refund of any retainers paid would need to go back to these people, or we would look into re-scheduling their weddings for upcoming seasons.

Thankfully my clients were incredibly understanding and most were completely willing to simply push their wedding date in Jasper ahead to the next year. Because I was able to immediately communicate everything that was happening in Jasper and also provide financial and rescheduling flexibility, we were all able to find solutions that worked well. Now I have a whole summer of rescheduled weddings that I am looking forward to here in Jasper, having the opportunity to celebrate weddings/relationships that were resilient enough to be held off for a year.

Last season taught me many valuable life lessons, but one of them was that through effective communication under incredibly stressful situations, one can help solve some wildly difficult/unprecedented situations. Because hey, that’s what being a wedding photographer is all about, remaining cool and getting the job done. And this job is about more than pretty photos, it’s making sure my clients have that once-in-a-lifetime special day. They deserve it!

Megan, 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?

Hi there, I’m Megan Posein, a couples photographer based in one of the most beautiful places on Earth- Jasper National Park. Photography has been a passion of mine for a very long time, and over the years, I’ve turned that passion into a career capturing life’s most beautiful moments. I absolutely adore the storytelling aspect of photographing a couple, especially on their wedding day. When you add that to the fact that these photos are being shot in the heart of the Rockies, it makes for some pretty amazing images; and a profession that fuels my soul.

Beyond weddings and elopements, I also offer adventure and commercial photography, working with brands that align with my love for the outdoors, nature, and storytelling. I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with companies like 20th Century Fox, tentree, and the Nature Conservancy of Canada, helping them bring their visions to life through storytelling imagery.

What sets me apart? My ability to stay calm under pressure, think on my feet, and create magic no matter the circumstances. Whether it’s adapting to unpredictable mountain weather, helping a nervous couple feel at ease in front of the camera, or—most recently—navigating the challenges of a wildfire that impacted both my personal life and my business, I’m always committed to delivering my best for my clients.

I am most proud of the fact that my work is about so much more than the photos I capture. I know that the emotions I photograph translate into lifelong memories about my client’s time in Jasper, especially if it’s from a wedding day.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

This summer, after the Jasper wildfires and subsequent wedding cancellations/re-schedules, there was a lot of uncertainty in my business. I had no idea if I would be getting bookings and I didn’t know where I would be living in a few month’s time (the place we found to rent was only available for a short amount of time). I also found myself having large amounts of anxiety thanks to the stress of it all.

Looking at all the problems that needed to be solved in so many different areas of my life/business was a daunting prospect and one that I was unsure of how to navigate. So I decided to break my life down into different categories to slowly start to sort out one chapter at a time in manageable chunks, focusing on my own mental health first. I figured that if I could help myself in that way, all the other puzzle pieces would fall into place.

So I stayed on top of my sessions with my counselor, went back to the gym, and started meditating/getting outside to connect to nature (easy to do here in Jasper!) more often. Fairly quickly I felt my anxiety become less overwhelming and I felt relatively “normal” once again. I started to see my creative spark come back and dove into creative photography projects as well as forming new bonds with people in my photography community here in Jasper.

Then, I was ready to start putting the time and effort required for my business, and almost immediately I had clients reaching out like before. Slowly but surely I was able to not just complete my business objectives for the season, but I was able to surpass them. Getting back to my normal work life after the fire was like reconnecting with an old friend. It felt easy, fun and left me inspired.

Of course, I was also able to figure out everything I needed to stay in town and eventually began to look forward to the upcoming season. My advice to others, if they ever find themselves in a similar situation, is to not look too far ahead and simply cross off the list of what you can mentally afford on any given day. Be patient and kind to yourself. Once you get back into a routine you’ll find that momentum again.

How did you build your audience on social media?

For me, social media is a big part of how I bring in clients to my business but it’s also something that I truly enjoy doing.

Over the years I have been an early adopter of different social media apps, which is likely one of the key reasons for my overall success (about 40k followers over the different apps I use). I was on Instagram in the early days, Pinterest since you were able to sign up for it, TikTok while people were still unsure of it all and now even rednote, translating my videos into Chinese for the audience there.

Like most people, I feel like I go through waves on how often I am posting. In the summer my posts slow down a bit because I am generally so busy shooting weddings and other creative projects… but I still try to be present for my audience in some capacity. At the best of times I am posting daily and talking with the online communities to, at the very least, posting stories on my IG showcasing what I am up to behind the scenes. Consistently showing up in front of your audience keeps you in the forefront of their minds, and you’ll likely be the photographer/business person they’ll think of when they are looking to hire.

The more often you can engage with a community by commenting on other posts and understanding the online culture there (by watching the videos for instance) the more likely you’ll see engagement on your own posts. Just like anything in life, if you want success in a certain area you’ll have to show up often and put some effort in.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.meganposeinphotography.com/
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/mposein and https://www.instagram.com/meganposeinphotography
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/meganposeinphotography
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mposein

  Pinterest: https://ca.pinterest.com/mposein

Image Credits

Photos by Megan Posein or Jeff Baker (my husband and business partner)

Image 1: Photo Credit to Jeff Baker
Image 2: Photo Credit to Megan Posein
Image 3: Photo Credit to Megan Posein
Image 4: Photo Credit to Megan Posein
Image 5: Photo Credit to Jeff Baker
Image 6: Photo Credit to Jeff Baker
Image 7: Photo Credit to Jeff Baker
Image 8: Photo Credit to Megan Posein