“I’d like to thank The Academy!!” Woah Baby!

This week I cleared out the embarrassing amount of take-out boxes and dishes off of our desk and we sat and had breakfast together like a normal family. We even threw an 8 year old birthday party into the mix with 10 girls! Especially in the last few months, we’ve been working on adrenaline until 2 or even 4am every night to get everything just perfect for the launch of an enormous project we’ve been working on. Even though there is still plenty of work to do, a great amount of excitement and gratitude poured into our hearts this weekend as we released a lot of the classes.

About 2 years ago, we had a dream. We saw photographers that we mentored or did workshops for, trying to piece information from several different places together, learning how to be a great photographer. They would maybe buy one class here, watch a youtube video on something else there, attend a workshop, or even go to a conference trying to figure out how to do this thing we love successfully.

On the other side of things, while there are some amazing, but pricey photography schools, the majority of photography schools and classes available are focused on learning about your camera and how to shoot everything as a generalist. A very small portion of the classes would specifically mention wedding photography. There would be one section on commercial work, one on architecture, one on portraits, one on landscapes etc… They were 100% shooting related.

We have discovered that having a successful wedding photography business is only about 20% photography, but 80% business (client service, marketing, business planning, branding, etc.).  There is a need in this industry to marry (pun intended) the shooting and business aspects, and for everything to be in one place. More importantly, learning from incredibly gifted, successful educators and current industry leading photographers. When we asked some of the best people in the business to be involved in teaching, we were overwhelmed with their willingness to be involved. These instructors are not only great at teaching and smart businessmen and women, they are solid, servant hearted leaders in our photography community! What an honour to have them all involved!

On top of gaining a great education, photographers will also receive a certificate of completion. We have been working along with quality education associations and boards, going through the steps to provide accredited certification in the near future.

After months of hard work by a great team of people, The International Academy of Wedding Photographers is now available for photographers wanting to move their photography business to the next level! Photographers now have the opportunity to learn business, branding, marketing, shooting and post production all in one place and all with a focus of wedding photography! We are SO excited to have over 170 people on board within just the first few days of being able to join!! We couldn’t be more excited about launching with this group of photographers. They have been so incredibly gracious, supportive and excited. The Facebook group has been buzzing!

Be sure to take a peak on what the amazing team below has been working on the past several months – THE ACADEMY (click here)

QUICK THANK YOU

– The one and only Melissa Love (creator of The Design Space) for her dedication and talent as she designed and created the school website. This is not an ordinary website. Incorporating purchasing, video run classes, assignments, testing, to name a few, was a huge task and she worked very closely with us to produce the best product for the students.

– Chris Mortensen for a lot of behind the scenes work such as video editing, business direction and support.

– Rob Buzza for editing and proof-reading all of our content.

– Thank you to our testers that have dissected the courses and given their feedback so we could launch a product of this level.

– Our instructors: Justin & Mary, Katelyn, Chris, Jordan & Amy, Montana for your hard work and for sharing your brilliant business minds.

– The first class of students – you are AMAZING!! We are excited to start with YOU! We couldn’t be more excited about this group and the support and encouragement you’ve all shown each other already!

– Our parents for all of the help with the kids! They are the luckiest kids in the world to have you as their grandparents.

– And a special thanks to Netflix for all of the added seasons of Full House for the odd moments we needed to get a few extra things done and the kids would have torn apart the house otherwise!