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Fiona Margo Education & Mentoring

Fiona Margo Education & Mentoring

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Fall Marketing Checklist

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For Family Photographers who want to build a trusted, booked brand!

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All the images displayed on this site are property of Fiona Margo Photography.

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All you need is good light and emotion. And tea. Must have tea.

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fionamargo

Fiona: Seattle Family Photographer • Marketing Coach
Here are the smattering of things left for Summer! Here are the smattering of things left for Summer!
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🌲Mt. Baker Half Session
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🏔Olympic National Park or Rainier session
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DM for links! Payment plans are available ❤️
A little collection of saves for your Sunday ❤️
Hi! I added some last minute summer availability i Hi! I added some last minute summer availability in my stories + to a highlight! Squeeze in a session before school starts.
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Lots of new faces here over the past few weeks, so an obligatory intro post is needed I think ❤️
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I’m Fiona, I’ve been a professional photographer for about 11 years. I’ve shot a little over 1,000 sessions. Over the past five years, many of those have taken place in some of the most beautiful places in the PNW.
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While I love that work, I’ll be slowly transitioning to fewer shoots overall and more education for other photographers. This job has opened up so many doors to dreams for me and I want that for you! But I know a lot of things; self-doubt, overwhelm, comparison, time management, work flow issues, marketing confusion can all make your work invisible to potential clients.
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I recently got a studio space in Bainbridge Island and I’m excited to shoot there, rent it to other photographers and host classes!
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I’m a mom of two girls (12 + 11) and fluffy girl Rooney and wife to my high school boyfriend (we hit 21 years of togetherness this year!).
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My favorite book is All the Light We Cannot See, my favorite movie is Legends of the Fall (although I recently saw Everything Everywhere All at Once and that was super good), my favorite song is God of Wine by third eye blind, I just started drinking coffee this year at 37 years old 😳 ☕️. I am extremely short (4’ 11” to be exact) so people often think I’m a weird wrinkly child and I also act like a 13 year old most of the time *she creates confusion wherever she goes*.
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Anyway, hi. Thanks for being here.
Washington State. You amaze me. - Also, I still ha Washington State. You amaze me.
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Also, I still have the last opening until July 2023 at this gorgeous spot on Aug 14! (This spot includes a mountain dirt road- but this fam had a mini van and they made it just fine ❤️)
Due to illness and such (poor clients - seems thos Due to illness and such (poor clients - seems those who missed out on C earlier in the year are getting hit in the summer!)…
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I have an opening here Aug 14th!
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It requires a mountain dirt road drive :) start time 7:20pm
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If you are need a maternity session or have a baby under one, DM for a discount.
Might this caption get me in trouble? Probably. - Might this caption get me in trouble? Probably.
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The other day, someone asked me “what’s the hardest part of your job?” And the answer came quick and fast.
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Rowdy toddlers? No. Walk in the park and totally normal.
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The weather? Can be frustrating but manageable.
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Editing and business systems? I have processes for that.
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The answer is Dads who act annoyed, uncooperative and rushed at sessions (very unlike the dad pictured above and many of the dads I’m lucky to photograph every year.)
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But the Dad who acts like a toddler about family photos, I’ve got a bone to pick with you and also a request.
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Our session will take approximately ONE hour of your life. You can be present, playful and helpful during that hour. For every grumpy, rushed and annoyed moment you create- you are sucking joy from your wife or partner who has *likely* done SO much to get ready for this hour.
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Don’t be a joy sucker. Use our hour together to relish in snuggling your beautiful family, even when your little one is squirmy and a little extra fussy at times. I’ve seen it all. I’m not worried about normal kiddo behavior but I am really sick of feet dragging adult men who act like this means nothing to them. It very well mean very little. But it means a lot to *someone* so show up, even if you have to put on a bit of a show.
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At my sessions, Dad only has one job: show up + play + snuggle his kids. For one hour. So, please do just that with a smile on your face.
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Signed myself and I’m pretty sure all family photographers everywhere.
Cheers to an adventure filled July! Cheers to an adventure filled July!
Love this idea from @whoorl - Sunday saves Love this idea from @whoorl
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Sunday saves
These layers tho 🥰 These layers tho 🥰
In the Family Photography Marketing Society, we ar In the Family Photography Marketing Society, we are chatting about all things Fall.
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Odd since the PNW is currently burning up with high temps, but if you don’t take control of your Fall as a family photographer, it will take control of you.
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You’ll end up resentful, burned out and stressed. To avoid that, make a plan! Start talking about said plan NOW.
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If you’d like this checklist, pop into my links and join the society! It includes content ideas and a place to organize all your Fall ideas so you stay in control as the fabulous artist you are ❤️
Back up in the place that started my love for shoo Back up in the place that started my love for shooting in the mountains back in 2016.
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I remember my first model call up there, I was running around literally on fire with excitement. I actually called my client (somehow I got service) to tell her that I got up there early, had scouted some good spots and couldn’t wait to see her in a few hours, to which she said “our shoot is tomorrow” 🫠.
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And she was right. The logistics  didn’t work out.
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And no one else wanted to go up there that summer of 2016 so I had to hold in all my excitement for a YEAR.
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When I told photographer friends, quite a few said “that seems extremely stressful. I’d never shoot in a place like that” anddddd…
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1. Stress is a choice and for the most part shooting in these places wasn’t stressful until the big C shut the ferries down and I spent a lot of time crying in the ferry line.
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2. Some of those same photographers shoot in the mountains now… hey-yo! 😂
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All of that said, I will be slowing down on mountain work in 2023. I’ll still shoot up there quite a bit but not at the rate of the last 5 years. For reference, in august, I have 14 mountain shoots. Which is a lot of amazingness but a lot of driving and time away.
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I love a slow pivot. I’m excited for my studio, for my photographer education ideas. I’m also still excited to watch client’s eyes light up with the beauty of these hills.
We are back in the land of cell service! And I alr We are back in the land of cell service! And I already miss being a bit unreachable. :)
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Over the past week, I got to reconnect with my childhood bestie and her sister who are transitioning to spearhead @jarbidge_adventures. They’ve been providing horseback wilderness outfitting trips since they were teeny tiny with their cowboy dad.
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As little girls, Monica and I dreamed of two things: horses and dogs. We grew up riding and pretending to BE dogs until the glorious day we could have our own.
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I’ve always wanted to go on one of their trips (out into the remote Nevada Wilderness) but life tends to get in the way. I think it was fitting though, that I was meant to wait. I got to be in my creative and professional element to capture marketing images for her in her professional element.
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My girls did so great on the trip! They had a very natural seat on a horse which gave this mama great pride (also Jeff? Killed it 3rd being on a horse). They bathed in the river, navigated steep terrain on horseback and played cards by the fire. My lovely mama came too 🥰
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Out there you have to rely and trust yourself a little bit more and it feels good. I actually got a pang of panic when I ran into target coming back into civilization:  so much noise and stuff and busyness.
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My life is pretty adventure filled (I mean I spend half my summer in the mountains as is) but this was once in a lifetime chance. I highly recommend taking a trip like this. 🏔🐴🤠
It kinda warms my heart how many kiddos end up wra It kinda warms my heart how many kiddos end up wrapped in my blankets during sessions ❤️
For my photographer friends: When I was young, I For my photographer friends: 

When I was young, I read these words, "Once, the mountains held within their silvered walls a forest so high and so gracefully forgotten that it rode above the troubles of the world as easily as the blinding white clouds that sometimes catch on jagged peaks and magically unfurl".
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On that day, I learned that words can be clicked together like tiny puzzle pieces to tell more than just a story, they could evoke a feeling- a heart swelling.
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As a child who spent most of my childhood alone in the woods- I would study the plants and the trees and the way light slipped through the branches like that- in tiny little poems.
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In high school, I became a poet. I wrote so many poems that my high school poetry teacher announced I would one day return and take her job. But poems are quiet stories and I wanted to write louder ones, so I went on to study psychology.
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But as I pulled myself towards that future- I realized it was not for me. A counselor’s days were filled with stories for sure but very little poetry(or so I thought).
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I realized the other day, as I sat and watched the clouds unfurl before a session & wondered how the light would stream through and curl itself in my client's hair and at what angle-  I had reached a job where I can tell poetic stories with a camera.
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There is pressure in this industry to be the same as everyone else- but the world needs you to do be you. You don't need to edit like her or have clients like her. You need to tell your own stories in your own way, stories you know how to tell in a different way than her.
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So get to telling.
“Even after all this time, the sun never says to “Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, “you owe me.” Look at what happens when we love like that. It lights the whole sky.” - Hafez
As a photographer, this pushing of reels has annoy As a photographer, this pushing of reels has annoyed me. But I’ve been slowly honing this method of long form, storytelling reels that feel like ME.
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I’m actually a pretty good dancer, but I have no desire to dance here. Or act. But I am getting pretty good at making these 😍

I like this app, so I’d rather pivot than disappear
If you missed it, I made this handy dandy what to If you missed it, I made this handy dandy what to wear guide.
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Photographers, in general, offer suggestions on what to wear because we have a unique bit of knowledge when it comes to which outfit colors work best with our editing style + our locations.
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Not all photographers edit the same. In my editing process, super bright/neon colors don’t translate well but earth tones do! Blues (navy especially) and too many greens can cause people to blend into the background instead of popping.
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Ultimately, your comfort is the absolute top priority! But choosing outfits is also hard af!
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Here are my ultimate tips:
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🪷mom- you pick your outfit first and build from there
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🍂utilize a color grouping! You can often shop by color which will cut down overwhelm 
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🌾sometimes dad is left to last and gets thrown in a navy tee and jeans- why this is the go to, I’m not sure but a simple switch from dad navy and jeans to dad in brown pants and a simple white tee can bring him right into the color scheme without much effort. If dad is only comfortable in navy and jeans, build around him and let him be the only one in that color. Otherwise, everyone will blend.
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Photographers: I made this guide a Canva template I have for sale in my link in bio!
Am I a photographer or GIF maker? 🧐 I’ll be b Am I a photographer or GIF maker? 🧐 I’ll be both ❤️ here’s one with 568 images
Availability update: I’m pretty much booked for Availability update: I’m pretty much booked for summer!
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I will be offering two baker half sessions in august. If you’d like one, shoot me a dm!
People pleasing- it’s a problem. We service prov People pleasing- it’s a problem. We service providers are all guilty of it. I serve my clients well but I also show up honestly so that some people are downright turned off by my brand. And that is AOK with me! I know it’s a sign that I’m doing something right.
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The photographer for everyone and every type of session is a burned out and resentful photographer. Here are some ways turning people off is helpful:
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Contrast brings clarity. You can build trust with the clients who are right for you just as easily by showcasing who you are NOT as who you are.
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When you show up authentically, even if some are turned off, it builds trust faster. Clients saying things like “you are just as I thought you’d be” or “I feel like I already know you!” That is a great indication that you are showing up as a real human person in your marketing. Every photographer is not for every person. That’s how it should be so both parties are happy. A family who wants perfectly posed, traditional shots will not be excited to see me show up and encourage kids to run around and be silly.
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If you are people pleasing for fear of people disliking you, there’s a 1000% chance you are out of alignment with your truth.
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You won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s a sign you are being brave and being you. What’s the worst that could happen? In my many years saying exactly what I think and showing up as me, no one yet has punched me in the face through my phone screen.
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Say what you think. Tell your truth. Ruffle a few feathers, even if you do it with a very light breeze 🤗
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