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Interview with Ana Brandt

I am excited to bring up our next presenter, Miss Anna Brandt, who taught the art of maternity photography. So I'm very excited to have her with us. And how are you doing and good on Sunny California? I'm doing great. How can you not complain about Sonny? I love it. I love it. So let's talk briefly about your photo Week course called The Art of Maternity Photography. What did you teach in it? Just the basics of transition. Opposing and using a fan and dressing a woman and just kind of was more of an introductory introductory course of pregnancy photography. Fantastic. And then, of course, we had you here for a full three day workshop. Let's hear about that. Yeah, that was intense. That was We did maternity wind, a newborn another day and the third day, this part. Marketing and sales and motivation. And it is gosh, just a little bit of everything from all different areas. It was a fantastic one. I watched a little bit of it, and I am not at all a baby photographer, but it was amazing. S...

ome of the things that we learned what are some of the biggest questions that you get related to photography. Well, goodness, I get questions around the world every day, and it's amazing. I was a 1,000,000 today in Brazil was emailing me, saying, How do you get babies into a deep sleep on? It's so funny because I converse with over 50 countries every week, and it's the same several questions. Number one is what camera do you use? What, what lens is the perfect lens That's always the big one because that's where the magic is right on. Then the second is, how do you get the babies to sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep and then, you know, the third is How do I do it all and you know, equipment. You know, I'm a cannon girl. I'm a Mark three. I used 24 to 70 U. S. M. Two lens, the 50 millimeter lens and on location, the 72 200 millimeter lens. But I also don't believe you need to have the most expensive camera. I'm not one of those people that believe that I bought used here for 10 years, so, you know, use what you have and make it great and then earn the money to afford the next camera. That's kind of my philosophy. Second, the babies to sleep well. If you watch my three day course, it'll help you think. Hisses. Food people aren't paying attention to what the nursing mothers air eating, and I have three babies that prove the theory that what a mom it eats if she's nursing, affects the baby. And half the time If you could just teach Mom to keep the baby awake and keep them bathe and, you know, eat comfortable foods and watch their formulas of the formula feeding when they come for their session, you can get them in a very deep sleep. And I'm a two hour newborn session girl, not a four hour girls. So I believe in getting a mystic. And then that's fascinating. The idea that it's what the mother is eating that's influencing how the baby is sleeping. Most people aren't thinking that far back people just like What did you do two minutes ago to get it to sleep? Not what did you do hours ago? Yeah, and honestly, I didn't know any better, either, until I had a son who is up all night, and I was crying to my pediatrician going, What did I dio on? She's like, It's not what you did, it's what did you eat on three kids? They all, you know, were affected in different ways. And even if it's they're not nursing. If it's the formula they're getting, we're not effects to and even diaper rashes. What diaper are they using? You know, the parents say, Oh, they hate a diaper change that a light bulb should go off. What diaper you using? They might be allergic to the diaper, you know. So there's there's obviously a 1,000,000 things of why the baby is not sleeping, but it's fascinating. Every week I get emails from Brazil to Israel, to Egypt, to Turkey, and they're all saying, Why aren't the baby's sleeping? And it's it's That's a big, big ones. And then the third is how do I do it all? And I say every day I don't I don't do it all myself. I have a team, I have a crew, my family helps me. I have assistance, and I don't do it all myself. That's that's the easy one. Yeah, and, uh, how do you get started finding that team? That's kind of the question. How do you How do you get into this like Okay, I'm at the point where I can't do everything and there are things that are essential that aren't getting done. How do you start finding that team their referent, T D. Jakes, If you know him, he's phenomenal. He says, If if you're doing the job that somebody else can do, you're not fulfilling your life's purpose. So if you're sitting there just updating customer database, but anyone can do that, why are you sitting there doing it? But can anyone pick up your camera and take the photos that are gonna come from your eye in your vision? No. So what you do is you sit down and you say, What are all the things that I'm doing that anybody else can dio and you make a list of those? And if you can't afford it, you go to the local colleges and you say, Can I enroll in your intern program and get students who not only would they love to do it, they have to do it to graduate, haven't get an internship and say, you know these air? The thing given the list of the things but you don't need to do. This is what I need to do and you get them in there and then you've got the 120 hours or whatever the hours and get to graduate to figure out. Is this the right fit? Are they you know? What are they doing? You know, I'm a control freak. I would love to do everything myself. But I have that quote and I say, Wait a minute. What? What is my What is my purpose? My purpose is to not just sit in a file all day, the way really love to pile on me. So I think if everybody just take us, took a step back and my retouching, I don't I don't need to clone out hands all day. I can outsource that to somebody who can do that all day. And maybe that's their life's purpose. That's beautiful. I love that. I mean, it just goes back to almost what I was saying about the previous course that we watch. If you're not finding joy in what you're doing, if that isn't the thing that is fulfilling you and really allowing you to do what is most important to you. Whatever is your life's purpose, why are you doing it? Why not figure out how to have somebody else to do it so that you can focus on what is special about you? I love exactly. And if you look to every successful person in the world from Oprah to the president, what are they really spending their time on? I could guarantee you it's not filed now. Absolutely not. I love that. Thank you for those thoughts. Let's talk a little bit about what's kind of new with you on what's going on in your world right now. I know you had an interview recently in Range Finder magazine, and you actually mentioned something I thought was really interesting, which was your experience with YouTube and with video, which is not something that most people think of when they think of newborn photography. Can you tell us a little bit about your experience with video on Do you Tube? Sure, and Range Finder called me just like two weeks ago. So the articles not out yet? Um, but but it's it's good that you brought him up cause it'll I'm looking for to seeing it. Basically, the short version of how it started is seven or eight years ago. I literally started using a flip cam and photographing behind the scenes of pregnancy and newborn to share with other photographers because there really wasn't anything like that. And I was like, Let me just share well all these years special tickets even closer to nine years later, I have over a 1,000,000 views and 15,000 subscribers from all over the world. People just kept asking questions, asking questions like, Sure, I'll do another video. Well, here's what started happening, people. One of the first things that really changed my whole life recently. Waas We had a call from Afghanistan and his wife was having a baby here in California and he was looking for a photographer and he's an amateur photographer himself, so he loves to go on YouTube. It just figured things out when he's not defending our country, right? And he found my YouTube videos and started following my links and going to my website, and honestly, I got an email from him and I thought it was him because he's like, I mean, knowing from Afghanistan, I'm like, yeah, right on. So I just said, Why don't you call the studio, make an appointment? And he was like, Well, it's a little hard, but I'll try. I'm like, Yeah, OK, forgot about him. He calls the studio any books and he five for Afghanistan to come and help his wife deliver a baby. And I was just the whole neighbor in session. I was still like, Really? And he was like, Yeah, I mean, how else would I have found you? Okay, so I start thinking maybe I should focus more on consumer videos showing behind the scenes because look, there's a 1,000,000. You weren't photographers out there. How do people find the newborn photographer and then behalf anywhere? Photographers don't even have photos of them. And you're supposed to bring your seven day old baby to a photographer, and I don't even know what they look like, right? Let alone you pay this money and you get there. What if you can't stand the Tanamor? So I started thinking I switch the camera more on me and behind the scenes of a session because it takes a lot to go in a session and do more consumer videos and I did create a second channel for that. What happens? I get another call from a military family, the husband, wife or in the army. She's looking for a photographer in Orange County. She's in another state. She sees my video. She calls my husband. I found my photographer needs, like who hears her video. Pretend you're the mom when you're in for any word session and there's so much going on, you don't even remember, right? You're in this postpartum days. The dad's doesn't even remember what happens when you look back at a video. So sorry. You're fine. You're fine. And all of a sudden to music, you start seeing behind the scenes on the work and the magic that's involved in it. And then you add that with the stills. Yeah, So you're looking you're seeing the posing in the fluffing of the prepping and then pull me image. The still pops up and you're like, Wow, Wow. And so we started saying, Okay, this is gonna be a gift for those pictures are baby plan because our baby plan is not cheap and they're paying a lot of money up front, and they're investing with me So why not? I take part of that investment back. And this was my talk with range finders. I was telling him, like anything you have to given investment back into your business. You know, when I start doing books. Nine years ago, I was barely charging $400 for a book and barely making any money, and it took years to figure out how to do it. It's the same with video. It's initially it's taking my videographer and testing it, practicing and adding it, calling it making it great and saying, OK, we're gonna gift this to our high end clients, then streamlining it so you can add it as a product is a value add on for your products and services. Beautiful. I love that. There were so many things you just said, Like goodness, that part that I didn't even consider was the idea that, um, this is a family who has a newborn who they are. They might be a first time parent and are terrified. Don't know anything about it, and they're expected to go in and just hand their child over to a complete stranger, being able to see who you're working with learn their personality a little bit at least even like you said. Just get to know who they what they look like that is beautiful and then being able to be searchable findable YouTube is one of the, if not the biggest at this point. Searched sites on the Internet and so having that number of people looking and being able to find it, that's huge. I love that and then and then developing it into making it a product that you can offer. That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that really quick. We're running out of time here. What is new with you? What is going on in your life shares the big news. Uh, well of launching a magazine, The art of pregnancy and newborn tie open. We had one years ago, and I put it on the back shelf. And because I get so many questions because of being on Creativelive, I said, it's time to bring it back. My husband's a rider. He worked in magazines for years. Let's bring it back in print and digital. So we posted the cover on the website and we're getting ready to launch it pretty soon, so I'm excited because it's gonna be solely focused on pregnancy. Newborn Children. The first year, every issue. Excited about that and a personal note. I got to take my CPP exam just to feel like Why not? Why not? I'm a member of people. Why not? So just work. I'm continually trying Teoh better myself. I believe it's a journey that you spend the rest of your life on. I will never be done, you know, and I don't think we ever should be. And so I'm always just trying Teoh make myself a little better and just try toe continue to work on my own work. That is fantastic. Thank you for joining us, Anna. We really appreciate your time and again. Thank you for all the teaching that you've done here. And we're excited to see the magazine as well.