May 2025 Newsletter

Written by Marcia

Introduction

Hello, hope you are doing well. Let me personally welcome you to the very first edition of the Dutchess Photography newsletter! Hey girl, hey, 💁🏽welcome! Recently, I launched a new publication on Substack, so I thought to myself, why not create a newsletter for my photography business? So, let’s give this a try. It’ll give me the opportunity to connect with my current/past clients, and also future clients, outside of a photo shoot. I’m not a big fan of social media, so I think this will be a good fit, although I must admit that I’m doing this on a whim. It’s May 1st, so the timing is perfect.

Let’s Chat

Most of April was an extremely busy month for me. The last week, or so, of April slowed down a little, and I have a few days at the beginning of this month that will be somewhat moderate, before this month gets really busy as well. May is always a busy month for me. There are several birthdays in my family, plus Mother’s Day, in addition to everything else, my schedule is usually quite busy.

I also have a couple of home projects that I’m working on, and really hoping to get finished before my daughter has her first baby next month. And yes, I’m also busy planning a baby shower, which will be at the end of this month.

I’m learning to accept that by having and desiring a full life, that it may often be busy. As long as it’s a good busy, I’m okay.

Gardening

Do you garden? I’m a novice at gardening, but for the past few years, I have planted a few crops here and there, because I know that we learn by doing. Fingers crossed that between now and next week that I get some seeds in the soil.

The Studio

To my past clients, I no longer have a studio at the 5116 Raleigh Lagrange location. With the economic downturn, I just could not justify keeping it open. For those of you that don’t know, I have a degree in Accounting, so I’m all about dollars and cents, and in light of everything that’s going on right now, I can honestly say that I have no regrets. After being at this location for five years, it was a little hard to say goodbye, especially since I absolutely love studio portrait photography, but I know that I made the right decision. Currently, I’m focusing on outdoor portrait sessions, and event photography. I still have all of my studio equipment, and I’m strongly considering dedicating a room in my home as a photography studio space.

I will keep you guys posted. But in the meantime, in addition to outdoor photo shoots, like other local photographers, I am using Crosstown Concourse as an indoor photo shoot option. And just recently, we even held a portrait session in a client’s home due to rainy weather. So, there are options.

Google Reviews

Lastly, if you happen to read this newsletter, and you are a past client, would you please do me a huge favor, and leave me a Google review? Recently, I accidentally deleted my Google business profile, and I lost ALL of my reviews! And unfortunately, I could not recover that account. Luckily, I was able to locate some of the reviews online, in other places, and just copy them, and create a client testimonial section on my website. Even still, the Google reviews are important because they help you rank in the search results. Here is a link, if you would like to leave me a review. I would greatly appreciate the kind gesture.