Speaker 1: 0:30

My name is Becky Gardner and I have Becky A Gardner Photography, which is my photography brand I've had since 2011. I have mostly worked with families during that time. Like it's been pretty cool over the course of like 14 years, like what started as babies are now like teenagers, getting ready to drive and all this like you know life things, yeah, but it definitely started just with friends, kids and you know, like taking pictures here and there and then just very organically turned into this amazing business that has just been so transformative in my life, like especially the last few years after COVID, when I feel like everyone was like flailing around. Yes, it's nice to feel like I had control of something, so that's been just wonderful.

Speaker 1: 1:20

I do some weddings and I do some like maternity couples. You know, like a little bit of everything. I call myself sort of a life photographer. Yeah, I feel like everyone tries to niche a lot and I never found that a niche was kind of fit me because I kind of like everything. And then I'm also starting a new business this year. It's called the Wellspring and it's going to be focused on women, sort of living and telling their stories, Something that I'm kind of passionate about. Those are my businesses.

Speaker 2: 1:54

That is very cool. You've got something new coming up for 2020 already.

Speaker 1: 1:57

That is exciting. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:59

Always having some plans and scheming going ready to go.

Speaker 1: 2:02

That's my brain. I'm always thinking of the next thing. That's beautiful, yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:14

I would like to know. I know you you were always interested in as a kid. Was this where you like the yearbook girl in high school?

Speaker 1: 2:20

A little bit. I feel like I was the like I grew up in the 90s total 90s kid here and I was the disposable camera girl. Gotta love those. So at all the parties I would be like with my disposable camera and then go do the one-hour film you were that girl and then we would see all the pictures. So that was probably when I first dabbled with photography. But I majored I'm actually an English major I have a degree in English literature and creative writing Beautiful.

Speaker 1: 2:51

And after college my husband well, we weren't married yet, but my fiancé at the time was in the Army and I was committed to just sort of following him around and so I started working in sales. And then after that, when we moved here to Virginia, I started working as a recruiter in sales also, and then I had my daughter, which it was very tricky time. I had decided to go back to school to get my master's in English education and then found out about my daughter, and then it was just never the right time to kind of either go back to the workforce or back to school to get my master's in English education and then found out about my daughter, and then it was just never the right time to kind of either go back to the workforce or back to school. And so then after my second child, I just sort of a friend of mine was kind of going through the same like what are we doing, what does it all mean? And had a DSLR camera and I was like, you know, I feel like it's a little bit of therapy. I'll start photographing my life.

Speaker 1: 3:37

And so I took a class at Nova that's where I'm doing it Just a little weekend class where we went on field trips and photographed stuff and I learned how to work with exposure and all of the different things. And then it just sort of became my life Like I just was obsessed with photographing everything in my life and my friends' lives, took some classes online, you know, about composition and things like that, but it just like very naturally happened. So I think it's always been kind of a part of my life, like just the importance of memories maybe, just like the significance of things that have happened in the past. I feel like that's a big draw for me.

Speaker 2: 4:17

So yeah, I think that's kind of I love it. Thank you so much for sharing a little bit of history about yourself. I love that you were the. It sounds terrible when you say but the disposable camera girl.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Yeah, I was, I was, I was the documentarian of all the trouble we got into.

Speaker 2: 4:29

I love it. No, I still sometimes. I still will use the disposable cameras.

Speaker 1: 4:32

They're they're classic. Now they're like nostalgia, exactly, but now we have our phones that photograph everything. I still like those disposable ones. I do too.

Speaker 2: 4:40

But anyway, I do too Good, good, and now let's see, talk to me a little bit about your work-life balance, and about one at a time, but also tell me about storytelling in your photos. But let's start with work-life balance.

Speaker 1: 4:54

Okay about storytelling in your photos, but let's start with work-life balance. Okay, so this is something that I am certainly not perfect at by any means, and I think most small business owners this is probably one of the biggest struggles we have is how do you balance it all? How do you turn the phone off? How do you turn the computer off, like, how do you be present and how do you, like you know, let it go or not, answer a text message or an email right away, and it's something I'm kind of passionate about now.

Speaker 1: 5:20

I went through I guess it was back in 2017. I that was probably at the peak of my I call my yes days, or I said yes to everything. You know. I wasn't saying no to anything that came my way, and I was just hustle, hustle, hustle all the time. Say no to anything that came my way, and I was just hustle, hustle, hustle all the time.

Speaker 1: 5:37

And I started to have some weird symptoms and kind of went to the doctor to follow up on a few things and it actually it turned out I had lymphoma, which is a type of a blood cancer, and luckily I caught it relatively early, but I did have to go through chemo. I did have to kind of full stop on life as I knew it for a good probably 18 months and I felt like, after doing some research on kind of what stress does to your body and being kind of in this constant state of like panicking or rushing around or how do I get a kid here and work, and do you know, I realized not that, I know I didn't cause it necessarily by myself, but I do feel that that was some responsibility. I was really not taking care of my body and I wasn't treating myself very well. It was something that you know. It's not fun going through chemo.

Speaker 2: 6:31

It's not a great thing.

Speaker 1: 6:33

So I felt like after that I refused to do that anymore. Yeah, and I I'm not perfect at it. Still, last year, I felt like towards the end of my season I had extended myself too much. That's what we as photographers do like. The fall is insane, and there's always this pattern of behavior that you tell yourself you're not going to do. Just one more.

Speaker 2: 6:54

Just one more, it's okay.

Speaker 1: 6:55

It's okay. So I'm kind of revisiting some of those things right now in making sure that I take care of myself and like what's actually important and all those things. But I'm pretty passionate about that with new photographers, when I talk to them, or even with friends when I can tell it's like you can email back later, you can send a text message later, you can tell your client, hey, I'm really struggling, or I'm really, you know, overloaded with kids stuff today or whatever. Like give yourself some grace, you know we're all working hard as entrepreneurs and small business owners. Yes, I really think you have to interject yourself there, because if you don't, what are you doing it for? Like you did you, you wanted a small business for a reason to to be a part of it and an active part and make it your own, not to fall apart doing it.

Speaker 1: 7:47

Right, you can't do any of those things if you're you know, if you're not healthy.

Speaker 2: 7:51

So, oh man, I'm so sorry to hear that. Yeah, you went through that health struggle, big challenge. But I'm kind of glad that you put yourself no longer on the back burner and are like you know what? I need to take time for myself, I need to take care of myself. I know it's still a struggle, because I suffer from that sometimes too, where I'm just like it's okay. One more. I know I said it Just today, next week no, but you're noticing and you're becoming self-aware and trying to do it less and less. It's a process. It took a while to get you there. Yeah, it can take you a little bit of a while to get rid of that habit.

Speaker 1: 8:20

Yeah and you. It's about taking ownership, kind of. You know, that's a part, I think, of any business. It's like I feel like when you first are getting like started, you're so excited that anyone wants anything from you. You're like you want me to do this? Heck, yeah, absolutely. But then I think eventually you realize you can't say yes to everything. You are just one human being. It's a really hard lesson to learn and I feel like that would be my advice going back to just be like, hey, chill out, you don't have to. Don't have to be like da-da-da-da-da, it's okay to say no, right, you just have to like what you're doing and connect to your work and then let the other stuff kind of work for itself.

Speaker 2: 9:06

Yes, absolutely. Thank you for sharing that very key piece of advice for any industry out there. Absolutely, yeah. And now I'd like to ask you about storytelling and, in your photos, talk to me a little bit about that.

Speaker 1: 9:17

Okay. So there's like all sorts of genres for photography. I mean, you know, being in this industry in any way, shape or form, you know everyone kind of does things and looks at things a little bit differently. And I feel like for me, I kind of would show up and at first I had no idea what I was doing. So I'm like wrapping babies and trying to make these perfect newborn photos, and that wasn't for me. And then, you know, I kind of tried out a little bit of this and that outside and like the perfection and everyone sort of staring at me and smiling, like I definitely love to get those too, but I didn't connect to that. Like it just wasn't. I don't know. Like I just wanted to know more.

Speaker 1: 9:57

You know, like I always tell families like I sort of like get to see the love and the things that they like, the connections they have from a different perspective, because I'm kind of making it all work together, yes, and finding ways that someone looks at the other one Like picture perfect, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think I definitely started feeling like with stories that I was creating in the sessions, that was just what I loved, whether it's with my brides and grooms, like the stories of their wedding days or this and that. So I really have changed my focus in the last several years to kind of focus on those little moments and sort of just setting my clients up for success, making sure we have the right clothing, we have a good location. You know we've not scheduled during nap time, we've not, you know, broken some sort of family rule or you know but then putting them in beautiful light and making them just sort of love each other and exist, and it just works.

Speaker 1: 10:56

I think my family's all like, really like that dynamic because it takes the pressure out you know, Like the kids don't feel like they have to perform, they just feel like they get to be themselves. So I kind of like to say that I'm sort of a storyteller.

Speaker 1: 11:10

I feel like that helps me connect to what I'm actually what I'm, you know, what I'm doing with my families and with my couples is like showing them what other people see, kind of you know, and so it's a really cool approach, I think, also to like this from the start to the finish of a session, you know like, and all the little bits in between, so it kind of just makes it feel more meaningful, you know.

Speaker 2: 11:35

No, I agree with that, because some of these moments like it's hard kind of to capture that on camera, like these are quiet, sometimes moments that you have like alone and for like another family member to be able to see that or later on in the future, for that exact moment is beautiful.

Speaker 1: 11:51

Yeah, I always. I mean, and it's a goal, like by the end of the session, and it can't be every image. That's a lot of pressure on clients and a lot of pressure on myself. Obviously we smile and we do a little bit of posing here and there as well, but I kind of want the client, and the kids especially, to kind of just remember what it felt like. You know like, what were these moments like? What did it mean to like run across a field and jump and attack your dad? Or like you know what did it feel like to kind of have your mom's arms wrapped around you and all snuggled and like that's what I want to show them is sort of what that felt like.

Speaker 2: 12:28

So they can look back and be like oh yes, I feel like I sometimes wish that I had more memories like that. I know I don't have very many at all and it kind of sucks. Sometimes I'm just like I remember this day, but not so clearly Like I want to know what that was, and with that picture you can remember the location, the background who was? There, yeah, and it's just such a beautiful thing to have.

Speaker 1: 12:46

So I'm so excited for you and I'm so happy for people who get to have these photo shoots and get to have these memories so that way their kids and they themselves can look back and know like this is, this is a piece of my history and my family. Yeah, we're all like so, so stinking busy all the time and I feel like, um, you know, any opportunity to just sort of relax and get taken out of the world and the crazy and the chaos and the weather and the politics and the whatever else that's. You know like going on drama. You know like it's kind of nice to just exist and like that's always my goal is like we're not worrying about anything else. You know like we're just here.

Speaker 2: 13:29

We're just hanging out. That's so perfect. So if you're looking for a moment of peace and being with your family, hit up Becky, because she's got you, she's got you.

Speaker 1: 13:36

That's right. Photos aren't stressful at all.

Speaker 2: 13:39

No, She'll make it easy for you, though. She's very sweet and comforting. So, you're in good hands.

Speaker 1: 13:44

I do try.

Speaker 2: 13:45

I do try, and now let's see. I want to go back to your new business, the.

Speaker 1: 13:50

Wellspring.

Speaker 2: 13:50

Okay, Tell me a little bit about how that's going to go and like, do you have like a ballpark time of when it's going to when you're going to start?

Speaker 1: 13:58

So I'm kind of working out some of the logistics right now. It was sort of born out of last year. I took a group of eight women to Paris and I just didn't really know what it was Like. I had always just wanted to take a group and like we're going, like I'm curating your events, like I don't want you to have like the cookie cutter Paris trip. I want to like kind of curate a few things that I think will be like things you'll remember forever and then go and stay in a great location and just experience the city. Wow, and so we did, and I think there were like lots of successes. There were things that I learned it's hard in any group to get, even if I was taking them to Leesburg.

Speaker 2: 14:41

Eight group of women. A group of eight women.

Speaker 1: 14:42

We're all going to want to do different things, go to different stores, and I feel like in Paris it's especially overwhelming. I digress, but Paris was maybe a lofty first stop. It sure is there with eight women. I just went for it. So I kind of got back and I was like, okay, so what? What did I love about the trip?

Speaker 1: 15:02

And one of the biggest things I feel like I connected to it wasn't a photography trip, it was just women sort of getting out of their comfort zone and living their lives, and then I was the photographer and so two of the women on the trip opted for we went to the Louvre and early, early in the morning and we did these kind of editorial, gorgeous photo sessions and it was like this incredibly empowering experience, I think, for them, for me it was amazing. And so I had kind of actually started the Wellspring idea when I was going through chemo and I was like stuck at home and couldn't connect in the way that I needed to. So I sort of started sending out questions to clients like let's talk, you know, and like we sort of you know, like these were kind of writing centered, so it would be like questions that you could sort of write about, and we about marriage and health, and I just felt like all these people wanted to share, you know, like they had something to say, they wanted to share with me or just get it out of themselves. And then, after I got done with treatment, I had to go back to work because those medical bills just pile, pile, pile. So then it sort of went by the wayside. But now I'm sort of feeling that pull again, that you know, we as women all have stories and we all come from different backgrounds. We're all doing different things and we're surviving and we're, you know, fighting and we're creating and we're doing all this amazing stuff, stuff, but sometimes we don't take the time to sort of reflect or acknowledge our role in it. Yeah, you know like to be like kind of an active participant in all of it. It's sort of like things are just happening, happening and we're just like swimming through it. Not enough time to like wait. Did I just go to Paris, right, right.

Speaker 1: 16:51

And so the new business is going to be kind of threefold. One will be the international trips. This year we're going to Spain. I was going to ask you what are the upcoming trips. So I have two spots left. But we're going to Spain in September. We're going to start in Seville and then going to Costa del Sol. We'll have a pool and the beach and all the things, but I feel like it'll be a much more chill sort of laid back trip this time around.

Speaker 1: 17:17

And then the second part will be these photo shoots, whether you're on an international trip I think in 2026 I'm going to organize a trip to go to Yellowstone and kind of do all the Yellowstone-y things. And then the photo shoots, even if it's just here, I want to get women in front of my camera doing something that they love, doing something that lights them up, just make them feel amazing and show their amazingness to themselves. It doesn't have to be for anybody else, just them. It doesn't have to be the Louvre, it could be downtown Leesburg. So that's the second part.

Speaker 1: 17:52

And then the third part is I want women to share their stories, and so I'm hoping to create events I'm hoping to have the first one in March, okay when I'll have a few women that are brave and bold enough to kind of get up in front of the group to share their stories but then also connect to the other women that are there, and I want it to just be a very safe spot or safe space for women to share, and we'll probably do some writing. We'll probably have some writing workshops or things like that.

Speaker 2: 18:22

That's so beautiful.

Speaker 1: 18:23

Yeah, I just I feel like we're all kind of craving a little bit more connection. After you know, after everything's like so technology-based and now everyone's kind of back normalized in the world. After you know COVID and the aftermath of that, Like we don't want to be on our phones as much, we don't want to be reading about other people's lives. We want to live our lives Right, and so that's sort of where I'm going is I want to kind of help foster those connections to yourself, to other people that are kind of thinking the same thing, Like you know that they have something to share, but they just don't know where to share it.

Speaker 2: 18:58

Yeah, so we'll see. That's wonderful that you're building this community so women can go there and feel empowered and know that maybe their local neighbors or local people from other places can connect with them and they can share stories and maybe even become friends. So this is beautiful.

Speaker 1: 19:14

I love that you have a very stories and maybe even become friends. So this is beautiful. I love that, yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:16

You have a very exciting and busy 2025 coming up.

Speaker 1: 19:20

I'm excited for you. I do. I'm excited too. I feel like I've been kind of wading through the mess you know to try to get here a little bit, putting those systems in place so I have a little bit more time to commit to new ideas and stuff. But yeah, I feel like hopefully this is a good big year.

Speaker 2: 19:39

I'm excited for you, thank you. I would like to ask you where do you see yourself in the next five years as a person and with your business?

Speaker 1: 19:47

Oh, gosh In the. I would like to feel just more content and sort of active in my own story, like kind of like what we were talking about before. But I feel like as an entrepreneur, like you hustle, hustle, hustle and you get to the end of the day and you're like what is even happening, like I would like to see in five years, like I am like owning it all. You know, like instead of just going through it all, I want to own it all and sort of maybe enjoy some of it.

Speaker 1: 20:25

Yes, I think that's a big part of you know getting older and get the journey and you can't just hustle, hustle, hustle all the time. And I feel like the Wellspring is a big project that will bring a lot of joy to, hopefully, me and others, but it's also just an attempt to slow the heck down, you know, please, please, Thank you.

Speaker 2: 20:46

Somebody's advocating for us out here to slow it down.

Speaker 1: 20:49

But yeah, I definitely want to see myself in a slower pace, you know, just kind of be more content with the day-to-day, not always feeling so much pressure to rush and rush and rush. That sounds so wonderful right now.

Speaker 2: 21:02

You make me want to take a little nap, right now I know I love it Under like 25 blankets.

Speaker 1: 21:07

Yeah, it's five degrees outside Yucky, no, no.

Speaker 2: 21:12

I'd like to ask you about marketing. What is working for you? What isn't working for you? Are you an avid social media user? What does that look like for you?

Speaker 1: 21:19

Yeah, I think marketing is changing. That's something that I'm realizing. What used to just be, especially as a photographer like you, could kind of put up some pretty photos, you know, tell a little story about what you were doing and people would see it. Now nobody is really seeing it Like there's a lot of aversion to Facebook for, you know, various reasons. I feel like I don't get a lot of success like I used to back in the golden days of Facebook. You know I still have my committed few that are always on there, but Facebook engagement, I feel like, has gone down. Instagram, I feel like you know, making reels and putting myself out there a lot more, which I seem pretty extroverted. But I'm also on the inside, like you know. I'm like that too, so I don't love having to put my face out there or do those things, yeah. So I feel like for marketing I'm having to think outside the box a little bit, and last year was a big year for me.

Speaker 1: 22:17

I hadn't really done any in-person marketing events, like I really hadn't gotten out there to meet other business owners and I was kind of feeling that isolation, you know, like trying to do it all or figure it all out. We do have a very friendly photography community and I have a lot of friends in the industry, but it was kind of outside of that what the heck is everybody else doing? And so I joined a couple of local marketing groups to get out and just see what's going on and meet other business owners. And it was really transformative, like just the struggles everyone's struggling, everyone is trying to think outside the box. Nobody loves talking to the camera on their phone and putting it out there every day, and so I think for me like my marketing strategy was just getting out there and making like other connections, meeting new business owners, seeing what works, seeing what doesn't, seeing how we could partner and work together.

Speaker 1: 23:12

And collaboration I think is a huge, huge part of the success of last year and moving into this year For sure. It's just kind of building up these other businesses and seeing how magical you know some of these other business owners are and then kind of mutually supporting each other. Yes, that's been like humongous. I love that and it's so great to feel like you're collaborating at Valued and you know like and so many people are doing such awesome stuff. You know like just even here in Leesburg like there's so many amazing businesses, so I feel like that's good. Yeah yeah, leesburg it's, it's great. I mean like there's so many nooks and crannies in Leesburg but they're all filled with cool stuff.

Speaker 2: 23:54

I agree with you. I couldn't agree any more if I could, yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:57

Yeah, so that's probably my marketing strategy is trying to get out, you know, and making those connections.

Speaker 2: 24:04

talking to people, whether it's in person, online, just building that connection, I love it. That's a good one. Yeah, is there anything that I have not touched on that you would like to get out there for people to know, whether it's about yourself, your business, the type of sessions that you have?

Speaker 1: 24:20

I think for me as a mom I have three kids and I feel like us, like moms we don't get in front of the camera very often and that is something that I am very passionate about.

Speaker 1: 24:37

I mean, in both of these projects, in my photography business and the Wellspring, but especially in photography I have moms that will show up and just do like the sessions with their kids. Like you know, they won't be in them or um. So if I could like just say one thing, I would suggest to all the mamas out there like to just do it, to just get in front of the camera and just, whether it's with me, and I would love to make them feel comfortable and gorgeous and beautiful and confident or whoever. But don't let the years kind of just fly by and you're not like in them, like make sure that you are putting yourself into the story and putting yourself into the photos and the gorgeousness that you put up on your walls or you show to all of your friends and family, because I feel like we're really hard on ourselves and we want perfection and we want on ourselves and we want perfection and we want you know everything to just be amazing and to look like a model, and you know all of that.

Speaker 1: 25:41

I just am very passionate about the moms getting in from the camera, letting their kids love on them and be silly and not be perfect and just embrace, embrace the imperfection of all of it, Embrace the chaos.

Speaker 2: 25:54

It's okay, embrace the chaos.

Speaker 1: 25:55

It's okay, embrace the chaos. That's I mean, that's as a parent, like that's what you have to do.

Speaker 2: 26:00

And that's pretty much what life is. It's chaos, and how we handle them, how we deal with it, how we got through it. Yeah, we look back at them and we laugh. We look back at them and we're like what were we thinking? You know, yeah, those little hurdles, and then, when you get past them, you come out of it stronger and knowing more agreed, agreed.

Speaker 1: 26:18

And you know, like, at the end of the day, like we get one life and like you know, last year, when I was offering motherhood sessions I do that every spring but, um, I had a tagline that their childhood is your motherhood and that's kind of been floating around. That's beautiful, but it's, it's really true. Like you, this is like your one shot to have your, your little one that wants to play. You know braid their, you know doll's hair or whatever you know, or you know, the boys want to.

Speaker 1: 26:45

You know, crash their trains and you know, run around, you know, all the kids, not just boys, but run around like crazy people, and so just I love documenting and I love it when I can make especially the mamas feel really comfortable in that.

Speaker 2: 27:00

That's so beautiful. Oh my goodness, yeah, where can people check you out? Tell us the name of your website. What are your Instagram handles? All that good stuff.

Speaker 1: 27:07

So I'm not on all the socials. Okay, that's cool, but my website is wwwbeckyagardnercom. I'm on Instagram. My username is Becky A Gardner. That's pretty much like the best ways to find me. I sort of have a little bit of a presence on Pinterest. I'm not so much on like the X or the other things, so I would say mostly well, I'm on Facebook, everybody's on Facebook, yeah, yeah, and that's just Becky A Gard, everybody's on Facebook, and that's just Becky A Gardner. Photography.

Speaker 2: 27:37

Beautiful Love. That, is there anything else? I just want to make sure, like anything personal maybe that you want to share about yourself, or a fun fact, just for your people to hear it.

Speaker 1: 27:48

A fun fact. So I am obsessed with like nostalgia and genealogy and antiques and like anything vintage. So if that's also your vibe, like I'm dying to do I have a couple of clients that have spoken out but I am trying to find people that have like amazing sort of vintage-y styled homes with beautiful light and like I could kind of come in. That was a model call I put out recently. It was just do you have an amazing cool house Like let's go in and look at all your treasures and your tchotchkes, let's do something. But yeah, I love anything that's like antique-y and like Luckett's out in.

Speaker 2: 28:27

Oh, I love Luckett's, Like just going through there.

Speaker 1: 28:32

I think that's something that's kind of unique, I love it.

Speaker 2: 28:34

Yeah, no, we actually had the owner of Luck. It's come in and talk to us. It was awesome.

Speaker 1: 28:38

I met her. It was years and years ago. She's awesome.

Speaker 2: 28:40

Yeah, I know.

Speaker 1: 28:41

I love Luck. It's the coolest and it just like spills out of their brains all those creators there Like how do you make everything look so beautiful and cool?

Speaker 2: 28:50

I love it. You know I come out of there like a broke woman, yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:54

I'm just like wow. I'm like I want to change everything in my whole house, you know.

Speaker 2: 29:00

Your husband or people are probably like ma'am, slow down, uh-huh.

Speaker 1: 29:05

You're like no, I don't think so. One other thing I also have this. Last year, my husband and I mostly my husband we built this amazing greenhouse in our backyard that I started using for photo sessions. I think there's some floating around on Instagram of the greenhouse sessions, but it's also available for rent. I had a couple of photographers come out and do elopements and like we live on not a big, you know like a, but a big enough plot of land where it is available for like events and things like that. So that may be something I dabble with a little in 2025 also Beautiful, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 29:39

Thank you for sharing all these things. I was able to pull some of these things out too, because I was like there's always something and then they're like, darn, why didn't I say it? I got you, I got you. Thank you, yeah, you're so welcome. Well, it was a pleasure having you here.