I will be the first to admit that if it ain’t broke then it’s time to break it and fix it into something new. Yea, I might have just made that saying up – but it wasn’t off the cuff. Through the first quarter of 2025 I had the feeling that finally, just finally, some predictable trends were starting to emerge through the ups and downs of the Post 2020 Covid Business Rollercoaster. If you have been a business owner of any type in the New Orleans area for a few years you know we have business seasons within seasons tied to all things Catholic, Festival, Humidity, and Football. For a time you could predict that your Revenue Rollercoaster would revolve around the Holidays, Mardi Gras, Saints games (sorry Pels…but we don’t revolve around you yet…) wether it was too hot out to shoot, or the leaves needed to be greener. COVID changed all that.
People were mobile, remote, and hybrid while veryone’s business model and marketing strategy had to reflect those changes. Here we were, the content creators, just waiting around our emails to see what was needed in the likes of digital storytelling. I had found that just waiting around and relying what I had been doing wasn’t going to work in bringing any income in the post-COVID ‘figuring out’ phase, so I dove headfirst into learning all things video and communicating that with my clients. I continued to strengthen my headshot and documentary event photography communications at the same time as learning audio, AI storyboarding, and Reels (still hurts) for Instagram.
What happened through 2023-2025 was that THINGS COME BACK to a new normal and I was fortunate that I hadn’t let up off of the creative gas and become complacent. The now fast moving rivers of normalcy joined my new business outlook like a rushing tributary of new ideas and forward momentum. I was starting to get get New Orleans business clients asking about videography services as well as event photography without me asking about it as an add-on, and that was refreshing.
Through 2025 I was able to continue to offer discount services to all local musicians to promote their albums, website galleries, and social media. It is so important to me to find ways to support the amazing musical and artistic flag bearers in New Orleans by charging them less for my services to help their bottom line.
I was still pinching myself back to reality that I DID HAVE A PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO ON BARONNE ST.! Since the early 2000’s I had been in love with downtown Baronne St. when I first started buying Photoflo and Ilford Fixer from Reggie down at Liberty Camera. (RIP Liberty!) Well, the address says Julia Street, but I am at the corner of Baronne! Being able to easily access my clients on Poydras Street is a game changer. I have a healthy roster of continuing clients providing business headshots in downtown New Orleans.
As the instruments used to create and ingest digital storytelling continue to rapidly evolve I always need to keep one foot in that fast moving flow and one foot in the swamp…forever true to my purpose of storytelling. Here’s to taking more cotton out of our ears and into our mouth’s for 2026. Listen. Learn. Live.
