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

Shelby and Rick, appreciate you 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.

When Rick and I first started our wedding photography business, we were both working full-time jobs during the week. Rick was working a sporadic schedule for a retail store and I was still in hospitality, with both of us always working weekends and nights. The thought had been on our minds to leave our jobs and do photography and videography full time, but that was a huge leap. After countless times of having to ask our bosses for Saturdays off, or risk getting fired calling in sick just to be able to shoot weddings and events, I decided enough was enough and I was going to go full-time. It was starting to catch up to me, burning the candle at both ends. I couldn’t keep up with the editing, the late hours, the early mornings getting our son up for school and actually shooting the weddings. The thought of quitting our day jobs was scary because we didn’t feel like we were in the position to go full-time, yet at the same time our day jobs were holding us back from growing to that point. A classic catch 22. In 2018, I quit my day job to pursue photography full time, it was a major risk financially but we knew we had to make a change somewhere if we wanted to continue to grow in the wedding industry. I was able to put more focus on editing, scheduling sessions and had much better work/life balance but Rick was still working full time. It was a safety net that we just weren’t ready to let go of yet. As we continued to grow, we were having to turn down weddings and events because they were on a Friday and Rick didn’t have anymore days that he could request off. That turned into us having to make a split decision: turn down the wedding or I would have to shoot the event by myself, which was keeping us from growing in our videography side of the business.
We had just started to consider Rick going full time as well when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. We had to move and cancel tons of weddings and the idea of Rick quitting his day job became out of the question. We wondered what this meant for our business and if we would ever be able to grow to the point where we wanted to be, to both be able to go full time.
Once the lockdowns stopped and people started feeling comfortable enough to have small weddings again, thankfully, we picked back up. We rescheduled a lot of the weddings we had to cancel, and even picked up a few new small weddings along the way where the couple wanted to elope locally rather than stick to their original plan to have a big out of state wedding.
Suddenly, as slow as we were during Covid-19, we boomed. We were turning away Friday weddings and weekday sessions left and right because of Rick’s day job. We had to make a decision fast if we wanted to make our dream come true. The decision for Rick to go full time was made even more risky when we learned that our youngest son was on the way. As scary as it was, I think the knowledge of having a baby on the way, and that now I would need even more help with the business actually pushed our decision over the edge. Rick was going to go full time and we were going to fulfill our dreams.
Us being full time wedding photographers and videographers, has been the best decision we’ve ever made for our business. We love doing what we do and now we can put even more focus and love into our couples and our art. I hope other photographers who are on the fence about quitting their day jobs see this and are encouraged to take the same risk we did!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

We specialize in authentic wedding photography and videography, and because weddings are so intimate and emotional, we focus on how we impact the feeling of the day for the couple. Our relationships with our clients don’t feel like a transaction, they feel like friendships! We specialize in people first, then art.

We’re probably known by our clients by how quirky and silly we can be to get them to laugh and loosen up during a session, but in the industry, we’re known for our true-to-life color and robust films. We don’t try to be something we’re not by following trends and I’d say we’re respected for that.

Photo and film teams in the wedding industry are hard to come by, and our approach is even more boutique in the way that when you book with S&R John Photography, you are booking Shelby and Rick every time. Unlike other larger teams in the industry, we do not have secondary shooters and assistants that we send in our place. This keeps all of our photo galleries, films, and client experiences, personalized, consistent, and of the highest quality that we can produce.

We’re most proud of our ability to take couples who have never had a photo taken together and transfer their nervous energy into something fun and romantic on camera. We’re also proud of the care we take with each image and film. Everything we do is edited, colored, and processed by just the two of us!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Focusing on our client experience overall is what built our reputation in the wedding industry. We want all of our clients to have fun when they are in front of our camera. We try to not make them hold stiff poses or be too formal, instead we like to get them to play and relax. One of our favorite things to hear after a session is “We had a lot of fun.” or sometimes from the guys who usually hate taking photos, “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be!” Another thing that has impacted our reputation is offering affordable services, while still delivering high quality products. Our goal has always been to provide our couples with the best value that we can.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth! We love when our past couples recommend us to their friends and family. That’s when we truly know that they were happy with us on their wedding day, because they feel comfortable enough to trust us with their friends and families weddings as well. We also love when vendors refer us, because that tells us that they enjoy working along side us.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shelbyandrick.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/srjohnphotography
• Other: www.vimeo.com/srjohnphotography

Image Credits
Personal Photo of Rick and Shelby: Lindsey Ford Photography