Photography Business Update 2022

Welcome to 2022 friends and our photography business update! I know, it’s already April, or is it May? So we’re well into 2022 but for the Colorado photography season we’re starting to ramp up. The snow is melting, the grass is greening, and we’re getting amped to get outside and shoot!

This blog post is a little bit of an update on us and what we’re up to. A lot has changed in the past two years so we wanted to let you all know the direction our business is going. We’ll talk about the woes and joys of surviving 2020 and 2021 before updating you on what’s new in 2022.

This post will also be followed with a few more relevant posts on some of the topics covered below. If you’re not already on our newsletter, be sure to join as that’s a little more intimate connection space. Additionally, check out this video and more when subscribing to our YouTube channel.

Photography Business Update 2022

Our business survived 2020

Yes, despite the fact that the blog has been quiet, we survived 2020. In fact, some great things came out of that year. I wrote so much I broke a few keyboards, we published a kids book, and our business grew in other directions.

If you haven’t checked out our kids book or if you need to resupply for your gift closet, ABCs of Adventure was born in 2020. The idea was living on my to-do-someday list and a lot of our work disappeared. It seemed like the perfect time. We did a Kickstarter to self-publish the book and have loved seeing it out in the wild.

I also won a publishing award for a book on creativity so keep your ears peeled on that in the hopefully near future. The advantage to self-publishing is that I didn’t have to be as patient, the advantage to a publishing team is the wisdom and experience of people who actually know what they’re doing.

Our business survived 2021

After the storm came the other kind of storm. In 2021 we pretty much said yes to everything out of the trauma of having nothing. That resulted in us working a lot, like a little too much.

When it rains it pours and then sometimes it floods. I wouldn’t be complaining about having a successful year but the reality some of you recognize is that burnout is real, exhaustion is real, and having two young kids is very very real. So again, it seemed like a good time to redefine values and priorities.

Now things look a little different for our photography business in 2022

1. Less specialized, more focused

In past years we mostly focused on wedding photography. That was our everything. Early in our career we took the advice of gurus to specialize and we took it pretty seriously.

We dabbled in a little bit of everything over the years shooting some families, real estate, babies, products, and more. But mostly we focused on weddings.

We always knew there would be a gradual shift at some point and had already been growing our commercial work prior to 2020. At some point we wouldn’t be able to work non-stop all the summer wedding season long, I blame it on being a parent and wanting to spend time with my family.

So now, we’ve become less specialized. We don’t only shoot weddings. We still shoot them, yes have no fear, just less of them (well that remains to be seen as we’re still working on saying no.)

But, even with becoming less specialized, we’ve become more focused. We’re staying true to our values and our brand, “love. adventurously.” Defining our values and using them as a guidepost to decide which projects we take on and how we spend our time has been immensely beneficial.

It’s both freeing and defining. We are creators, we are storytellers, and we are focused on inspiring and impacting our clients.

2. Our wedding business is offering both photo and video

When it comes to weddings, we’re now offering both photo and video. There are a few main reasons.

Some of our favorite videographers to work with moved away and we really like working with videographers that have a similar photojournalistic style to us. Turns out we already make a pretty good team so expanding that teamwork to photo video was a natural shift.
With the rise of smaller weddings two photographers doesn’t always feel necessary to our couples but videography does.
The gear has gotten so good that we can finally offer a photo/video combo without it impairing our ability to work effectively and efficiently. In the past, it was much harder to switch back and forth.

What’s next after this photography business update 2022?

I hope you enjoyed our photography business update 2022, I would love an update on you? What’s new? What’s your next chapter and where are you headed?

We’re still figuring out what our business will look like heading into the future. For now, we love working with our couples and our clients. Marc also does a lot of gear reviews and I hope to launch a few projects in the nearish future to help you stay motivated, inspired, and loving…. Adventurously.

Stay tuned for some upcoming blog posts on photography gear, creativity, wedding advice, and more.

Next, you might like these posts on tips for wedding photographers:

Or this recent Roxborough state park wedding photo and video

Finally, boost your creativity with this creativity meditation or these creativity affirmations.

We are Marc and Brenda Bergreen, a husband and wife photography team specializing in Colorado wedding photography and other adventures.

Don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can help! Be sure to follow us (weddings instagram & adventures instagram) and/or like us (facebook) to stay tuned.

In the meantime, remember to…