We were lucky to catch up with Nicole Saunderson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicole, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The biggest risk that we have taken so far is deciding to leave our secure full time jobs and pursue our passion full time. My husband and I have both been open to risk and change in our lives, as both of us prior to knowing each other, on a whim decided to move halfway across the country (Me from Chicago, and Mike from New Jersey) to start a life in Florida (And that totally worked out for us b/c now we are happily married with our amazing son Colin!) Fast forward a few years, we both have secure government jobs and our photography company. Believe it or not, I was actually a Fire Safety Inspector with the local Fire Department. Mike & I decided that we would never get our business to where we wanted it to be at without putting in “full-time” effort. When our son was born, we made the decision for me to leave my job, so I could be at home with him as much as possible, and also have time to put into our photography business. Mike stayed at his job for another year to provide our family with a little bit of security, before leaving in (wait for this timing) January of 2020. This was an incredibly scary risk and leap of faith for us, BOTH leaving behind benefits, retirement, and secure income to pursue our dreams. 100% worth the risk – no risk no reward right? Now we have a flexible schedule, spend lots of time together as a family, and can honestly say we LOVE our job. Scariest decision in our lives, but one that I would NEVER change!

Nicole, 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?

Of course! I’m Nicole, and I am a proud owner of Dreamscape Photography + Video. My husband, Michael, and I created our company back in 2015 and it has been our passion project turned career ever since! We are a husband and wife team that focuses primarily on weddings & engagements, along with corporate clients. We each have our own areas of expertise and we have found that we work extremely well together. It really has been a rewarding journey because we get to spend so much time together and with our amazing 3 year old son. We love taking advantage of that time and doing fun things as a family. We go to the theme parks, try to sneak away for little stay-cations, travel, try new activities, and hang out at home!

Michael and I have both always enjoyed photography as a hobby in our youth and decided we wanted to take that a bit further by turning it into a business that we could LOVE doing! We are so lucky because we have met so many amazing clients along the way. Our clients always tell us they loved the photos and/or videos that we delivered to them, but usually say that part of their experience they really enjoyed was us. That type of comment really pulls on the heartstrings and makes you feel good! Part of what we deliver is the experience working with us, a well-oiled machine, if you will, knowing that we work together all the time and have you covered! Our approach is to be like old friends to our clients, where there is automatically a comfort level present and some light heartedness, but also be a fly on the wall as to capture what is going on without disturbing or taking away from anything.

Beyond beautiful wedding galleries, company headshots, or awesome marketing videos, one of the things that makes me feel the most proud, is when our three year old gets excited about doing “work” stuff with us! He talks the lingo, always wants to help edit, loves to go with us on site visits (when appropriate) and has a cute little camera of his own that he instructs us all of us how to pose! It’s the best!

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

Absolutely! We have learned so much in the last 7 years, and we are ALL about sharing and helping others! One of the main things that absolutely changed our journey, is networking. Networking with other business owners and creatives provides not only great mutual business opportunities, but so many people to learn from. We have all had our great successes and perhaps not so great things that we have to learn from, and sharing them with others is truly awesome. Learning new softwares and technology, special event happenings, introductions to new people in the industry, and even new techniques in our craft. Networking is also an amazing opportunity to build up your team. For an example, we have met many amazing photographers in our local market that we have become friends with and we all help each other out whenever we can. When I meet someone newer to photography, or the weddings and event industry, I always tell them to get out and network with others!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Can you say COVID? Ugh, this was such a crazy time in everyone’s life, and we like many other businesses had to pivot (For my “Friends” fans out there – channel your inner Ross’s LOL) During the unknown portion of the pandemic while everything was shut down, we decided to use our “free” time to better ourselves. Videography is something my husband always wanted to get into, but we never had the time. He is a perfectionist and never wanted to offer Videography as a service until he felt that he 100% understood everything and could provide a product he was proud of. Well, suddenly we found ourselves with a lot of extra time and we tried to take advantage of it as much as possible. Fast forward many late nights and lots of practicing, (and the wonderful yet dreaded purchasing of new equipment) and we now offer Videography as part of our services, and it keeps us quite busy.

We also used our time to revamp our backend processes and develop a better client experience, which was super important for us to do! We wanted to make sure our client experience from the beginning until the end is at a level that we would expect and look for.

Sometimes when life brings challenges and you have to turn down a different road, you just have to see where the road is taking you and make sure to get to the destination you want. Be open to change, take smart risks, work hard, and adapt!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dreamscapephotography.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/DreamscapePhotographyLLC
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DreamscapePhotographyLLC
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DreamscapeFoto
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfhJJSWIwTdgE81B0Qv4atA

Image Credits
All Images By: Dreamscape Photography + Video