On this one Jared and I sat down with our friend Ryan Teague from Feather and Finch Photography all the way on the Gold Coast of Australia. Ryan is one of those rare photographers who has been wildly “successful” on paper, shooting 120 plus weddings a year, and still had the courage to ask if any of it actually lined up with the life he wanted.

We talk about falling in and out of love with photography, what it does to your heart to be a dad to a son with special needs, why surfing every sunrise might be a better business plan than your current workflow, and how much more powerful your work becomes when you stop trying to impress the internet and start trying to really serve the people in front of your lens.

If you have ever looked at your own work and thought “this came too easy, is it really worth what I am charging” or felt that quiet little pull to slow down and be more present, this episode is going to hit you in the best way.

In this episode we get into:

• The 120 weddings a year season
  How Ryan built a fast growing brand on the Gold Coast, what it felt like when the work was almost too easy, and why that started to mess with his sense of value.

• Falling out of love and finding it again
  The honest side of running your own business for years, the seasons where you could not care less about picking up a camera, and the small shifts that brought him back.

• Rethinking “candid” and “documentary”
  Ryan talks about how couples use these words, what they actually expect on the wedding day, and how he now has very specific conversations up front so the experience matches the marketing.

  
  

• Empathy first, ego second
  We talk about the difference between being the entertainer at the center of the room and being the quiet presence that makes the room feel safe, and why he is willing to sacrifice a perfect frame if it means his couple stays grounded.

  
  

• Meditative portraits and quiet frames
  How music, stillness, and silence shape the way Ryan shoots portraits, why he chases “quiet” images, and what it looks like to invite a couple into a slower, more intentional moment on their wedding day.

  
  

• Parenting, disability, and a very different true north
  Ryan shares how being a dad to a ten year old with cerebral palsy and autism has completely changed his priorities and made it very hard to care about the little vanity games we all get sucked into in this industry.

  
  

• Designing a slower life on purpose
  Sunrise surf sessions, short office days, training, and building a rhythm that actually supports his health and his family instead of constantly demanding more from them.

  
  

• Aftercast preview inside PHOTOCOIn the Aftercast for members we dig into the actual questions Ryan asks his couples, how he prepares them for a more meditative experience, and how he is thinking about storytelling over an entire wedding day as his style shifts.

Listen to more episodes and read the show notes
Photographic Collective Podcast home
https://www.mileswittboyer.com/podcast

Join PHOTOCO and get the Aftercast with Ryan
Photographic Collective membership and training platform
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Learn more about the Photographic Collective community
https://www.mileswittboyer.com/photographic-collective

Feather and Finch Photography
https://www.featherandfinchphotography.com.au

Feather and Finch on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/featherandfinchphotography

Miles Witt BoyerWebsite
https://www.mileswittboyer.com

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/mileswittboyer

Jared Mark FincherWebsite
https://www.jaredmarkfincher.com

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/jaredmarkfincher

If you are new around here, the Photographic Collective Podcast is basically Jared and me sitting down with people we really respect and pulling on the threads that actually matter. Creativity, business, family, burnout, ego, money, all of it.

PHOTOCO membership and Aftercast access
https://www.mileswittboyer.com/photo