We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shannon Nolan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Shannon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I hope that my legacy will be that of someone who brought a positive energy to everyone I meet. Whether it be my family, the couples who allow me the honor of capturing their wedding day, my friends, or acquaintances, I hope that when people think of me or tell my story, they feel happy to have known me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I originally grew up in Maryland in a divorced, lower-income household and my outlet growing up was always sports. Neither of my parents had gone to college and they urged me to go. I couldn’t afford to go to a four year school my freshman year so I enrolled at my local community college and played on the lacrosse team while working part-time. I guess someone must have noticed because by my sophomore year, I was awarded an academic and athletic scholarship at a private four year University. Upon graduating with a degree in Business, I continued my love for sports and pursued coaching while also working full-time in Human Resources. An opportunity arose for me to leave Maryland and coach lacrosse in Arizona so I took it. It was in Arizona that I realized my passion for photography, videography and content creation. My student-athletes needed highlight reels to pass-on to college coaches for recruiting purposes so that’s really how I got started in creating.
Several years later, I found myself as a single mom living in Prescott, Arizona and desperately needing income. I decided to start marketing my creative services in the place that I most enjoyed spending time: Sedona, Arizona. I shot my first wedding on March 14, 2020. Two days later, the world shut down. Realizing that many people were desperately in need of live-streaming, I quickly learned how to live-stream multicam events, including weddings and private workshops. Once the world started opening back up, I wasn’t sure where my place would be in the world of weddings and events but I knew I was passionate about continuing because I really loved it. I dug my heels in, moved to Sedona full-time, and marketed myself all over the state of Arizona. I was driving sometimes twelve hours on top of working eight hours in a day, just to get the experience. Fast forward to today and I am lucky to have established myself as a premiere wedding videographer and photographer in Sedona, having won awards such as “Editors Choice” by Wedding Rule and have been featured in publications such as D.C. Luxury Magazine. It’s been a wild ride with a lot of late nights, early mornings, tears, and wanting to give up but I absolutely love what I do, the people that I meet, and I wouldn’t change it for the world!
My favorite thing about what I do is meeting couples and business owners from all over the world. Each of them have such a unique story and I am honored to have the opportunity to tell it.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I want my family, especially my daughter, to be proud of me. I want to tell other people’s stories the best way I know how.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

The #1 thing that I think helped me build my reputation is my mentality of community over competition. I have a lot to learn and a lot to give… It takes a village. Something else that is really important is consistency. To be consistent in all aspects of making your business better. You are the only one that is going to show up for yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sedonaweddingfilms.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/shan.in.az
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/sedonaweddingfilms
• Other: https://www.arizonaphotoandvideo.com

Image Credits

Shan-1.jpg and Shan-2.jpg credit: Hailey Golich
shan.in.az.png credit: Terry Secody
All others credit: Shannon Nolan