Personalized coaching with an experienced mentor can be a transformational experience, especially in a creative field like nature photography. Through supportive feedback, you can benefit from an external perspective and insights that can be clarifying, time-saving, and confidence-building. Working with a coach can help you identify priorities, improve your skills, or work through creative challenges more effectively than you might be able to do on your own.
A coach can also help you see themes in your work, refine your personal style, and work towards developing a stronger creative voice. While all sorts of educational resources are available for nature photographers, most are not tailored to your specific needs and goals. Coaching can bridge that gap by focusing entirely on you and your creative goals.
VIA ZOOM: My rate for coaching is $150 per hour for Zoom-based sessions, with discounts available if you would like to sign up for multiple sessions. You can either sign-up for an hour-long session using the button below or you can get in touch if you would like to check in with me first.
COACHING VIA CORRESPONDENCE: If you prefer to communicate in writing, I am also happy to arrange an email-based coaching dialogue with you. Since this type of engagement has many more variables to consider compared to a timed Zoom session, please get in touch with your goals and budget. We can go from there in discussing some options that might work best for you.
WHY WORK WITH SARAH?
Prior to becoming a full-time nature photographer, I worked as a management and leadership consultant with nonprofit organizations and foundations across Colorado. A major part of my practice included working with leaders, staff, and board members on setting and achieving personal and organizational goals. I bring many years of experience in personalized mentoring and coaching to my photography business.
I also have extensive experience in leading professional development sessions and am known for my practical, accessible teaching style—all in addition to my extensive experience as a nature photographer, photography educator, and writer. My coaching always starts with getting a sense of your needs and goals, and is offered with the intention of being kind, helpful, encouraging, and practical.
You can learn more about my background and photography experience here.
COACHING FOR NATURE PHOTOGRAPHERS
Through this service, I offer personalized, in-depth coaching on all topics related to nature photography, including:
- Working through creative challenges, like building confidence, building a portfolio of personal work, developing stronger creative practices, dealing with burnout, or making progress on big personal goals
- Personal expression, including exploring what you want to express through your photos and exercises to develop your personal style
- Improving your field practices, especially around seeing opportunities, improving your observational skills, taking advantage of all conditions, and developing your composition skills
- Black and white photography, including seeing opportunities in the field, experimenting with files you have on hand, and photo processing
- Improving your ability to see and photograph nature’s small scenes
- Small business development including strategy, goal-setting, audience development, financial planning, and evaluation
NOTE ABOUT PHOTO CRITIQUES: I only offer portfolio reviews and photo review sessions for previous clients. I think I need to know about you and your goals for your photography before I can provide feedback on your work.
HOW DO THESE SESSIONS WORK?
One benefit of working with me is that I do not have a set approach and customize each coaching relationship based on your interests and preferences. I always start with a short written interview so I can understand your goals for our work together and get a sense of where you are with your photography. After the interview, we will schedule our discussion or agree on an approach to written correspondence. If we do a Zoom-based session, I will share the recording with you for future reference. In addition to our discussion, I am also happy to provide you with recommendations for future study that align with your interests and goals.
This service is available to photographers of all skill levels. Unless we are traveling in an area without internet, sessions are usually scheduled within two weeks of receiving payment.
What to check in with me before signing up? Contact me here.
FOR PREVIOUS CLIENTS ONLY: If you are signing up for a portfolio review, I can provide feedback in one of three ways: through an interactive Zoom session, through a recorded video in which I go through your photos and then send the video to you, or through written correspondence.
Photo reviews typically include an in-depth discussion about 7 to 10 finished photographs, often shared as a cohesive portfolio or project. For each photo, you will have the opportunity to share your intentions and specific areas of feedback you wish to receive. With this context in mind, I will provide feedback about emotional resonance, composition, technique, use of light, photo processing, things that work best, and things that could be improved, along with overall feedback if you submitted a portfolio or project. I will wrap up the discussion with some general observations and recommendations for areas of study or practice that could help you improve your photography moving forward.