ABIGAIL TRIPP

Abigael Tripp is the Missoula-based artist behind Here Studio. Abigael focuses on landscape imagery and design inspired by the magic and beauty of the natural world. She joins the Montana Diaries podcast to talk about what art means to her — what art comes naturally, what it is to be a maker, and the feeling that her art evokes. I was drawn to Abigail and her art from the moment I stumbled across her, and it was a delight to speak to her about her process. 

“Getting Into” Painting

Abigael was working her day job as a graphic designer in Portland, Oregon — a job that she loves, that for all intents and purposes was “the dream.” when she realized that her priorities were out of alignment. She felt creatively depleted and suddenly unable to meet deadlines that were manageable in the past. She went to her boss and mentor, distressed and apologetic, but then something amazing happened:

She was met with grace.

Her boss told her to take a beat, to figure out what she wants, and to find alignment with herself again. Abigael thought about what she wanted, and the answer surprised her a bit: she wanted to paint.

At the same time, she received an email from her college advertising a painting class. 

“I forgot about joy. I forgot about enjoying this life — it’s my life, what’s the point if you’re not doing things that make you feel alive?”

— Abigael Tripp

Prioritizing joy

Painting was the catalyst for Abigael to make the decisions she wanted to make and to let the universe catch her — she felt it was finally time to be herself. Learning to paint was hard, but it was a new skill that enabled her to feel completely embodied. The physicality of the paintbrush and supplies grounded her in the earth.

What is it to feel IN one’s body?

Abigael opened up about how therapy made her realize how much time she spends in her head and detached from her own body. She is constantly reminding herself that she is a person present in a body — it’s why her studio is called “Here —“ a reminder to be rooted in the place that you are. 

Run, don’t walk — RUN to check out Abigail’s beautiful work.

LINKS
Check out the shownotes for our episode with Abigael -- they contain alllll the resources and links mentioned in the episode!! https://www.montanadiaries.com/creativebusinessblog/12

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!

RIO CHANTEL

Rio Chantel is a Missoula-based brand photographer and the coolest person I know — everything about her is just rad and makes me want to live a more intentional, creative, aesthetic life. I’ve been drawn to Rio since the first photo I saw of her — platonic love at first sight, truly, so this was a freaking treat.

Rio also owns our favorite creative studio space, Oi Yoi, where we shoot all of our branding + educational video content. Go check it out and book it nowwww! 

What do we hold space for?

Rio and I chat about our shared experiences as children of large, nomadic families. We dissect what it is to relate to others and hold space for people, to empathize, and to give grace — and how all of this relates to creativity and business. 

The fear of being misunderstood 

Rio and I also connect on having a deep, life-long fear of being misunderstood, and the challenges this fear creates in being ethical communicators. Rio speaks to her own personal journey with giving herself grace — grace, in relation to herself, means “forgiving herself for being human.”

Being human is hard.

Therapy has been a huge part of forgiveness + relationship mending for Rio over the past year and a half. She details her experience with therapy and how it has helped her.

From playing photographer to becoming “the worst boss in the world.”

Rio shares how high-volume and low-ticket her offerings used to be, and the anxiety that business structure caused. She mentions her early business “depleting (her) creative resources.” Rio’s process of niching down, raising her prices, and reconciling her business with the lifestyle she wants to lead will resonate with creatives of every niche. 

Let’s end with some true wisdom

We all know by now that I’m trashhhh at ending these blog posts, but I want to leave you today with my favorite quote from Rio’s episode of the pod: “Part of my journey is that if I make a sacrifice of my integrity then the universe will tell me to get back to my boundaries.” 

Oof. Yes. Thank you, Rio.

LINKS

Shownotes for this episode with Rio Chantel w/ all of the resources and goodies mentioned: https://www.montanadiaries.com/shownotes/11

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!

NIKKI FANSHAW

In this episode of the Montana Diaries podcast, I sat down with Nikki Fanshaw to chat about her path to becoming the wildly talented brand + web designer that she is today. From a Midwest farm girl, to a growing career in the fashion industry, to product design, to running her own successful design firm — Nikki knows a thing or two about pivoting in creative business. 

The brand + web design process

I was lucky enough to work with Nikki on our brand + website this year. We broke down the process of working together from the inquiry stage through the final delivery — Nikki outlined her process, and I chimed in from the clients’ perspective on how everything felt. We were super candid about creatives’ insecurities and roadblocks to working with a professional brand and web designer.

LINKS

Shownotes for this episode with Nikki Fanshaw: https://www.montanadiaries.com/creativebusinessblog/10
Your free starter guide to integrating video into your photography biz: https://www.montanadiaries.com/learnvideo
Montana Diaries Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/montanadiariespodcast

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!

I'm so excited to present this behind the scenes chat with everyone's fave husband, Brandon! We do a deep dive into the creation of Montana Diaries -- Bran leads the conversation by taking "the people," as he calls you sweet listeners, through my creative ~journey.~ LET ME KNOW if you liked this interview and if you have any questions at all that we can address in future! I want to do more tangible creative business episodes and the interview format might be the move; whatever you want, ha!

Be sureeee to head on over to montanadiaries.com/creativebusinessblog/9 for links mentioned in this episode. 

Don't forget to leave a review on your fave podcast platform!! It helps more than you know!  

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!

We’ll see if Chris kills me for that title, ha!! You’ll have to listen to our chat to know what that’s about. 

Chris Mai is an incredible Portland, Oregon based filmmaker serving the PNW + beyond. On episode 8 of the Montana Diaries Podcast, Chris and I discuss everyyyything from balancing family and entrepreneurship, to looking toward the future and trying to envision an end point. Chris has some incredible heart-centered takes on ambition, innovation, creativity, and “the dream.” This is a MUST LISTEN.

Be sure to go give Chris all the love on Instagram and review the pod on your fave platform! We appreciate it so much. 

https://www.montanadiaries.com/creativebusinessblog/8

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!

BAILEY ANSELME is an Iowa-based photographer, videographer, and graphic designer serving the Midwest United States and beyond. I felt compelled to pull Bailey on the pod to show what it looks like to offer multiple creative services within one business, and she didn’t disappoint! 

Bailey is the sweetest lil human in the entire world — she is ALL about finding contentedness in the situation she’s in and crafting a life of comfort. I know listeners will get a lot from her mindset and I can’t wait to hear what you think! Go give her some love on Instagram and be sure to review her episode on your fave podcast platform.


SHOWNOTES: https://www.montanadiaries.com/creativebusinessblog/7

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!

From Mary Kantner’s website:  Mary Kantner is a portrait photographer based out of Los Angeles, CA. She is inspired by “imperfections”, in-between moments, and telling a story in her photographs. She uses both film and digital photography fluently within her work.

Mary joins the Montana Diaries podcast to discuss, well, everything. We talk about being multi-passionate artists in an industry that demands niching down, and how we must allow our human selves to be more complicated than our brands. Mary attempts to put words to what draws her to photography legend Annie Leibovitz, which prompts a fumbling talk where we dissect the difference between technical excellence and emotional authenticity. 

This conversation is one of my favorites so far on the podcast, and I can’t wait to hear what you take from it. 

https://www.montanadiaries.com/creativebusinessblog/6

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!

SHOWNOTES: montanadiaries.com/creativebusinessblog/5

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!

Leanna Krenik is my dear friend and a Bozeman, Montana based photographer. In this episode of the Montana Diaries podcast, Leanna gets craazzzyyyy vulnerable about her feelings about her personal style and social perception shaped her creativity and career. Keep listening until the end because Leanna's mindset around keeping her personal life and marriage sacred paired with her thoughts about protecting her time are pure gold. 

https://www.montanadiaries.com/creativebusinessblog/4

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!

Dawn Charles is an adventurous wedding and elopement photographer turned educator and the founder of Rise Photo Academy, which Dawn calls "Netflix for photographers." She is the creator of multiple digital products and resources for photographers, including her wildly popular DC presets. Dawn joins the Montana Diaries podcast to talk about her progression from photography student, to intern, to business owner. These days, Dawn's main passion lies with helping small business owners find success in their niche. 

I know you'll get as much out of this chat as I did -- make sure to let us know what you thought after you listen! 

Head over to montanadiaries.com/creativebusinessblog/3 to find any links discussed in this episode.  

Want to book luxury weddings and destination elopements? Join us for Thrive: Montana, a 4-day retreat featuring high-end styled shoots, SEO & blogging strategy from Danielle Johnson, and a creative community that will push you forward. Stay in stunning mountain cabins, soak in the hot tub, and leave with the portfolio + marketing tools to book your dream clients. Join us at heythriver.com/in-person-events!

Photographers, we’ve got everything you need to level up your business! Head to our shop for LUTs, courses, contracts, email and blog templates, freebies, and more. Whether you're looking to streamline your workflow, create stunning videos, or grow your client base, we’ve got you covered.
Check it out here: Hey, Thriver Shop

Thanks for listening to the Hey, Thriver Podcast!! Don't forget to rate and review on your fave podcast platform -- it helps us get amazing guests and climb in the charts!