Recorded (00:05): Welcome to The Rework with Alison Tyler Jones, a podcast dedicated to inspiring portrait photographers to uniquely brand profitably price, and confidently sell their best work. Alison has been doing just that for the last 15 years, and she’s proven that it’s possible to create unforgettable art and run a portrait business that supports your family and your dreams. All it takes is a little rework. Episodes will include interviews with experts from in and outside of the photo industry, many workshops and behind the scenes secrets that Allison uses in her portrait studio every single day. She will challenge your thinking and inspire your confidence to create a profitable, sustainable portrait business you love through continually refining and reworking your business. Let’s do the rework.
Allison Tyler Jones (00:59): Hi friends, and welcome back to the Rework. Today’s guest is a returning guest. It’s April Graves from light drawn studios in Chicago, Illinois, and April joins us with some really inspirational ideas on choosing less, but better on slowing down, taking time to refill your creativity and explore new product lines, which is exactly what she’s been doing in her business with her fairytale portraits. April has been spending time in museums getting inspired by famous painters to take her fairytale portrait business to the next level. I can’t wait for you to hear how much she’s grown since the last time we talked to her and the changes that she’s making that I know will inspire you to make changes in your own business. Let’s do it.
Allison Tyler Jones (01:52): So April Graves, welcome to the Rework podcast. I’m so happy to have you here, and this is the second time you’ve been on, and I loved having you the first time. And so now you’re back.
April Graves (02:03): Yes.
Allison Tyler Jones (02:04): So will you just really quickly just kind of give a little intro on where you’re at, what you do?
April Graves (02:11): So I am April Graves. I own Light Drawn Studios. We are based in Chicagoland. I have two studios, one in a town called Lake Forest, which is on the north shore of Chicago, and then one in a sweet little equestrian town called Barrington, which both are very luxury, high end, beautiful places to work, beautiful places to live, and I get to serve the lovely people who are there. I do primarily fairytale portraiture, a lot of that, and then also family and seniors. And then I’ve really started to shift into doing some oil painted mixed media, and I am finding myself commissioning that work every single week, which means it’s time to raise my prices again.
Allison Tyler Jones (02:54): Yeah, right. Okay. So then when you’re saying oil painted mixed media, are you doing that for all those product lines or primarily for the fairy?
April Graves (03:03): You know what, I have had different session types requested. So some fairy I just did a couple that was celebrating their 16th anniversary the other day, and so that was their anniversary. They had this sporty inch tall or 50 inch tall niche outside their master bedroom, and they said, we have plenty of portraits of our family, but we really don’t have portraits of us. And so it was very sweet. Their college age daughter came and was my assistant because they want her to be photographed and she’s very shy and needed to see what it was like, and now she’s really excited and it’s going to move into something else. So we did that some in studio, very classic portraiture where it’s painted kind of just depends. Yeah, I think anything I, I’m working on equestrian piece right now, which is by far my favorite.
Allison Tyler Jones (03:51): I love that. So are you doing the painting yourself? Is it digital painting? How’s that happening?
April Graves (03:57): There’s digital painting like an underpainting, and then I’m doing all the oil painting. So the equestrian piece, I actually, they had the barn and the fields groomed right before the session. I was like, why would you mow your grass?
Allison Tyler Jones (04:13): I needed that grass
April Graves (04:14): Of my
Allison Tyler Jones (04:15): Foreground
April Graves (04:16): Oil painting in the tall grasses around her and her horse. But that is my favorite piece I’ve painted, and it’s been interesting. I kind of just took a couple classes, couple study options, and then I just was like, okay, I’m doing this. So I went from practicing on 16 by 20, so I was like, all right, I do forty inch portraits. That’s a smallest I paint and let’s go.
Allison Tyler Jones (04:39): I love that about you. I love that about you. Just jump in and see how it goes.
April Graves (04:45): Yeah, it’s been fun.
Allison Tyler Jones (04:46): That’s so good. Well, and it’s a different way to engage your creativity, right? That actual physical, it’s not in a digital, that analog is really, that’s got to feel good.
April Graves (04:58): It does feel really good. And back in the day when I started, it was the black and white oil tinted all that oil tinting. Prior to that I painted a lot, but it feels really good to get back in it. I love the smell of the oil paint. It’s yummy. The whole thing is just so messy and artsy and it just brings on a new layer.
Allison Tyler Jones (05:20): That’s amazing.
April Graves (05:22): I actually got paint on my camera yesterday. I was like, oh, well
Allison Tyler Jones (05:24): You got paint on your camera. Yes. We were
April Graves (05:26): Doing the photo shoot and my girl could not get close enough and couldn’t get the right angle, and I was like, here. So I was holding the camera and I was painting, and somehow
Allison Tyler Jones (05:35): It happened.
April Graves (05:36): Well, now they know I’m really the one painting.
Allison Tyler Jones (05:38): Right. That’s great. I have proof. I have a smudge of oil on my lens.
April Graves (05:42): Exactly.
Allison Tyler Jones (05:44): Well, April, you are an alumni of Art of Selling Art and also a valued member of our mind membership community and is such a great contributor to that as well. And so we’re speaking with a few of our alumni students and just kind of checking back in with you to see how has the art of selling art or what you’ve learned in membership, how has that helped you? Are there specific things that have helped your business that you can look back and say? That was kind of a really good, helpful moment for me.
April Graves (06:17): When I started with you on our last podcast, we kind of shared how crazy life was last year. And so that little anchor to hold on to. And so it was interesting because prior to that, I had opened the second studio here in Lake Forest and I was like, I am tired of paid advertising. I used to not do paid advertising at all in the sense of social media and just in all the digs. And so I was like, I really need to get back to grassroots. And I needed to remember how important that was.
Allison Tyler Jones (06:54): Meaning what?
April Graves (06:55): Meaning? It’s not just not that there’s just, because gosh, it’s hard to do paid social advertising, but it’s about connectivity and about the connections you’re making with your clients and with the people they know and just having your boots on the ground versus being in this space of social media,
Allison Tyler Jones (07:16): Targeted ads and demographics and
April Graves (07:19): Yeah, exactly. And things I don’t understand. And I was like, what I understand is people
Allison Tyler Jones (07:26): And relationships
April Graves (07:27): And relationships, that’s what I do. And so getting in with you and getting in with The Art Selling Art, it made it okay to really go back to relationships. And not that we hadn’t massaged those, but a really great for instance is I had a magazine say, Hey, we’ve got some blank space and I need some art. She’s like, send me something by 9:00 AM She sent it yesterday. I had to have it to her. It’s a really high-end luxury publication. And she’s like, create a PR piece, send me a piece. And so I had to go and Dropbox, I was doing it from home, and that’s where we have some of our files. And I was pulling fairy portraits from like 2021, and I pulled up 30 people’s images. We had one image from each session, and I was like, I don’t remember those people.
Allison Tyler Jones (08:13): Interesting.
April Graves (08:14): Isn’t that funny?
Allison Tyler Jones (08:16): You just forgot. I mean, but then you looked at it and remembered, right? Yeah.
April Graves (08:20): I was like, who’s that child? And I was like, I don’t like that. I don’t like that. I didn’t know who I photographed and I can’t remember who they are, but there’s a point in your life where you’re like, I need to do a ton of stuff to make it work, and I’m far less for so much more and it’s such better, more fun work. And I’m like, the relationships are so much better and stronger. And so I feel like in doing The Art of Selling Art, it made it okay to step back and reassess what I’m doing, who I’m doing it for, and how much of it I want to do.
Allison Tyler Jones (08:54): I love that.
April Graves (08:56): I am constantly less but better, less but better. And I am still booking two or three sessions a week right now, but I’m not even picking up my phone to do it. They’re calling me. I might text because it’s all of the conversation, the communication
Allison Tyler Jones (09:08): Absolutely
April Graves (09:09): Reaching out to 80%, but it’s just about being social and I’m good at that.
Allison Tyler Jones (09:15): Well, and I think that there are seasons, right? If you’re brand new and nobody has any clue who you are, you have to do a lot more of that typical type of marketing. Get your name out there, social, attend things, charitable. There’s just like you got to do everything. And then once you have that base clientele, don’t you feel like that’s such an engine or a foundation to build on that? So many of us, especially in the early years, you don’t see that. You just think, okay, well, I shot her. Okay, now next, who’s my next new one rather than, okay, what else does April need?
April Graves (09:52): Yeah,
Allison Tyler Jones (09:53): Fairy portraits. Does she have a horse?
April Graves (09:57): Exactly.
Allison Tyler Jones (09:58): How about a fairy on a horse? How about a fairy horse?
April Graves (10:00): Yeah, just what else can I do to take care of you? How else can I take care of you? How much more can I build this relationship? I really want to be the point where I’m on the tip of everyone’s tongues, but because they’ve heard great things about me and because the relationships I’ve built with their friends and their family and not because they saw something that may have triggered, yes, you need multiple points of contact, generally speaking, but the strongest ones are going to be the ones who can refer you because they fell in love with you and your work, or
Allison Tyler Jones (10:33): They’re hugging you as they’re walking out the door because they walked in with a 4-year-old who is a living nightmare. Their uncle kept him up the night before and you made it all and magical and amazing. And that’s not just bragging about like, oh yeah, April’s so great at what she does, but it’s like, no, you don’t understand my kid. It was bad. And then not only did she make it good, she made it great. And so that is a talent that’s something noteworthy to talk about and brag about. And then they know that on the way the next time or the next time they book, they know, okay, well, it was so hard the last time. Oh wait. Oh, she’s got it. It’s no big deal. I don’t even have to worry about it.
April Graves (11:14): And I’ll say, the kid was amazing. She was the sweetest little thing once they got her past being over tired, but it’s summer, everybody’s kind of got their crazies.
Allison Tyler Jones (11:24): But once you got her liquored up on candy, she was fine.
April Graves (11:28): I had one today that was like, oh, no, smarties. And I’m like, puffs, no, we’re healthy eaters. And I was like, well, we are all about commitment to good portraiture, and sometimes it requires a sugar bowl.
Allison Tyler Jones (11:41): Sugar. Yeah. Sounds like a good idea for your Instagram feed and your parenting class. But as for portraits, we are going to have some sugar up in here.
April Graves (11:51): Exactly. Right. We need energy. But yeah, I mean, I really feel like when we went through all of the work and kind of going through the process of it all, it was just getting to less but better and allowing it to be okay. It’s really okay to not have 75 sessions. And that’s really allowed me to really get creative and delve into other facets of my art, just like the painting. I’ve really had the time now.
Allison Tyler Jones (12:18): I’m so excited for you to have that.
April Graves (12:20): Thank you.
Allison Tyler Jones (12:21): But that’s true because I think if we get addicted to busy and just doing more and more and more, then we aren’t digging into what our real genius is. And that’s different for everybody. Everybody has a different genius. But if you’re just running around trying to make the phone ring, sometimes you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to go deeper with the clients and go deeper with the art.
April Graves (12:48): Exactly. It’s about getting it right, like you said, something about having to go to all the events and having to do, and so I don’t go to very many events anymore. I mean, we spend our weekends up at the lake, and I only work four days a week, so I keep myself abbreviated, but last Sunday I,
Allison Tyler Jones (13:06): I’m writing that out. I keep, this is my quote, this is my April quote. I keep myself abbreviated. That is awesome. Underlined written. Okay. I keep myself abbreviated.
April Graves (13:22): So I sat in the chair, I says, as a chairperson on the board of directors for an organization called wings. It’s the one that I do the fairies for. We’ve raised so much money for them, and they had an event this weekend, and it’s this women’s, the North Shore Women’s League. I sat in that board for them too. And we had the women’s luncheon. It is my favorite event they do all year. It is a charity for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. It is, I think maybe one man shows up and it’s usually the husband of the chairperson, you know what I mean? Otherwise, it’s 250 women at a country club. And so we had donated to the event and they had three different session types up from us. And there was this woman coming by and she’s going on and on about how, oh, she did our portraits and she was amazing, dah, dah, dah, dah.
April Graves (14:12): I wasn’t the only photographer donating. Then someone said her name and she’s like, yes. And then she turned and I was there and she was like, oh my gosh, this is her. And it was like every woman she was with ran to the auction table then to be part of getting that. And it was so nice. And then there was one of the other sessions was a fairy, and this woman was just like, oh, my two best friends were last year’s cheer people, and they both did the portraits with you and it’s all they talked about. And so I had to win this. And then the two ladies came up later and like, oh, we heard so-and-so won. You’re going to love her. And I was like, I love this. I love that. That’s the connection we’re making versus random people who for crying out loud, I mean honestly, I was like, who’s that child in that photo? I mean this morning I was like, I cannot believe
Allison Tyler Jones (15:02): The connection. And I feel like even with auctions, we had a couple this year that very rarely do we ever have an auction winner that they just get the free thing that never happens. And we had two this year that did that, and I was like, what was the difference between that? And it’s because they didn’t have any connection. There was no pre connection. They didn’t know other people. Just what you’re saying. Have somebody stand there and go, listen, come over here right now. You have to win this because April is amazing. She does these fairy portraits. You got to have an ambassador, somebody that is going to talk about you, and that makes all the difference,
April Graves (15:43): Right? Yes, it really does. It’s just so nice and it feels really good to have those relationships. I mean, I literally texted all three of those women later on that afternoon and was like, it was amazing to see you. Two of the three have booked a lunch with me and the other one, I’m going to her house for tea and to photograph her portrait hanging in her new sitting room
Allison Tyler Jones (16:02): As one does,
April Graves (16:04): Right?
Allison Tyler Jones (16:04): Having tea in the sitting room with your portrait.
April Graves (16:06): I wouldn’t you rather do that then obsess over what came in overnight. It’s fun to have things coming overnight, but nine times out of time for me, it’s not so pretty. Yeah,
Allison Tyler Jones (16:16): Well, or it’s good to have both things, right? It’s good to have a lead generator ads that are going to give you some leads knowing that many of those probably won’t convert, but at least you have something out there. And then you have these other community based, relationship based things that it’s not as many leads, but the ones that do come are solid and they’re a relationship and they have a network.
April Graves (16:39): Exactly. I keep saying with the paid advertising, I think it’s almost more about being another source for people to see you again than to consider it necessarily that your ideal client is coming around on the first go round of it. If you can change your perspective of it when you’re feeling a little desperate, we all feel desperate. Well, I feel desperate by March. I’m like, oh my gosh, I’m going down. It’s just
Allison Tyler Jones (17:09): Right. There’s times of year that everybody feels desperate. In Arizona, it’s July usually like crickets and tumbleweeds and everybody’s in Newport Beach living their best life,
April Graves (17:20): Little blaze. But so you have that desperation and then you’re like, that’s when I’m running those feverish ads. But I know that when I do a special event, they’ll be like, oh my gosh, I actually saw your ad on Facebook and now I need you. And so they’re not necessarily signing up on Facebook, but they are saying, I recognize you. And so that’s kind of where I’m looking at with my business. How do I temper that and make that all work? And really, when it comes to paid social, it’s my own attachment to perfection and having results that I like that it is just still terrifying.
Allison Tyler Jones (17:59): I know.
April Graves (17:59): Right?
Allison Tyler Jones (18:01): Yes. Attachment to perfection and abbreviated, those are the words of today. Yes. Yeah, I think that’s absolutely right. So you came into The Art of Selling Art. We went through the class together. Now you’re in the Mindshift Membership group. So looking back saying, okay, it’s okay to go back to grassroots. It’s okay to slow down. It’s okay to do less but better. It’s okay to market basically one-to-one more relationship. And so now it sounds like if I’m just repeating you back to you, that has kind of slowed the pace in a way for you. Your income is still at what it was or better, but you’re not shooting as much.
April Graves (18:46): No, I’m not.
Allison Tyler Jones (18:47): And you’re able to work a little bit less, which is great. So you can go to the lake and be abbreviated. Anything else, anything specific from just even processes that you felt like were helpful?
April Graves (19:00): I think my favorite process was in the way that we write communications via email and that in the thought of writing everything you create to your best client versus to the masses versus, Hey, we’re doing this and you should come join it. I have this session type coming up and you should, it’s more thinking about your top client, your best client, and writing that email as if you’re personally writing it to them. And it is so interesting. Now, I am going to be very honest. There are times that I’m just too busy right now to be writing my emails. And so my graphic artist is doing ’em and she does a beautiful job and she knows my brand inside and out, but when I write the email, this is a good reminder. I need to go back to it when I write the email, people don’t fill out the form. They respond personally to the email and are like, thank you April so much for thinking of me. They don’t even know what’s going to 3000 other people when it’s well done. And that really came from you just thank you. That is so helpful. And that was probably less but better in that or probably my two biggest takeaways. That was huge.
Allison Tyler Jones (20:10): And I think it’s just so easy to, you look at big corporations and think, well, this is what they’re doing. And so that’s how I need to talk. Like, oh, we’re writing an ad. Ads sound like this. They sound like if you do this, then I’ll give you that or hurry and respond now, limited availability or whatever. But that’s just noise. And really it goes back to the very first thing you said, which is rather than who is that kid? My relationship is with this person, I think we talked about this in your last episode too, where you’re checking up on friends, just, okay, so-and-so just got a new horse, she’s going to be competing. I just saw it on social media, just reaching out, email, text, whatever. Hey, I saw that you just got your new horse. I would love to photograph her or whatever.
Allison Tyler Jones (21:05): Just that you have them in your mind. And it is such a nicer way. It takes more, actually, I don’t think it does take more time. I think when you write these ads, these big MailChimp or whatever that goes out or these social media ads, we stress about those for months and weeks and then we don’t do it, and then we come back to it and then we don’t do it again. And we’re spend so much time putting it off, not right. Whereas if we just a little bit every day just send out a text to somebody letting them know we’re thinking about them.
April Graves (21:35): And that’s been really, that has been my new, what I do every, I would say three days a week, I won’t say every day because I don’t work every day, but three days a week, which is usually Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I pick three people consciously. Now I write it in my journal text or DM, and I list out the people’s names and I do it like, oh, I saw that Susie, we’ll just call her. Susie keeps commenting on the portraits done on the carousel. Or I know that Julie’s youngest daughter is going to be graduating and she is going to need to get in because that kid plays water polo and will not be able to do fall portraits. Those things you know about them, and those are little nuggets of gold that fill your calendar with people you want to create with.
Allison Tyler Jones (22:26): Well, and when you think about service providers that you deal with in your life that you want to work with that are providing you services that they could call you and have that level of knowledge about your life, okay, well, April that you go to the lake every July 4th, so why don’t we come and just repaint the house while you’re gone for the week. We’ll come in. We’ll drape everything. And I know you said you wanted to redo that living room and that Faron Ball blue, and you’d be like, now you’re picturing in your mind coming back from the lake house and your living room is the blue that you always wanted it to be. Yes. Just come do it. Great. Here’s the key.
April Graves (23:06): Exactly. It shouldn’t have to be that much work involved for your clients to have it done,
Allison Tyler Jones (23:12): Whereas otherwise you’re like, I can’t plan a lake trip and think about calling the painter, and you just wouldn’t do it. Not on your, but if somebody’s going to give you another way to interact with their business and make it so easy for you. Oh, it’s amazing.
April Graves (23:29): It is. It really is. I mean, today, I had a phone call right before our Zoom with a client who she got surprise baby, and so she literally did her portraits. I spent a lot close to 20K on it, and then was six months later found out she was pregnant after she hung the portrait six months later, pregnant. Oh my gosh. So we waited for the little guy to turn three because she wanted to have
Allison Tyler Jones (23:56): Not be a newborn. Yeah,
April Graves (23:57): Yeah. So we were just on the phone today and I was like, okay. And I was like, all right, let’s talk. We talked about each of the kids, we talked about the clothing. She has a husband who travels four days a week. And so I was like, all right, I’m picking everything. I’ll send you all the links, just go on and buy it. And she’s just like, okay. But that’s what she needed. She doesn’t have the energy or time to go look for clothes. She needs me to go through and pick ’em out. I know her well enough. We talked about the vibe we wanted. We know the timing, and that’s how you serve people and that’s how they come back.
Allison Tyler Jones (24:32): Well, and even on the in between times, I think too, I just had an interaction this week with a client who we’ve been photographing, I think this year was probably the third year that we photographed them. And she is a CEO of a school that works with nero-atypical population. And so she’s incredibly smart. She’s got these great kids. She’s got one child that’s transgender working with that and just trying to navigate that with school. And everything’s so stressful in this world, and they’ve had to move out of their house remodeling. So let’s just add a few more things to the list. And so the last time we were over there installing for her, I noticed that she was doing a puzzle on her table. And I love puzzles too, but it was a company that I hadn’t seen before. And I said, Ooh, tell me about this.
Allison Tyler Jones (25:23): And she’s like, oh yeah, this is my anxiety relief. I just live to do puzzles because this just keeps the anxiety at bay. So I said, oh, yeah, does that for me too. I love that. So I, Memorial Day weekend, I went down my puzzle, rabbit hole, and then I thought of her, because I always take a picture on my phone when I finish it. So I sent her a picture of all the puzzles that I did, and I said, I think you’d really like this one. I think you’d really like this one. And she’s like, oh my gosh, I love that. I love that. I love that. Thank you so much for thinking of me. There was nothing attached to it, like, oh, hey, because we’ve already photographed the kids this year. That’s already done. But just I remember that about her was something that we share. I have a lot of clients that that’s why I post a lot of on my social media about books that I read and clients, they like to screenshot ’em and stuff. So I think being that fully fleshed out person that you are, all the things that you love, you have your own unique recipe for that. Each of us are individuals and love a different combination of things, and that draws our people to us. Right,
April Graves (26:27): Exactly. No, I think it’s so brilliantly said, and I do love your book posts. I’m always asking, I think I comment on occasion like, oh, I read this, or, oh, I have to get that one. And I think it’s brilliant. And that’s really, I think a lot of it I have found, I’ve been doing less paid social, but more just really posting organically and then sharing about our personal lives. People want to know, I mean, we’re artists, we’re kind of enigmas, so they kind of really want to be inside our brain because most people don’t have all the cray cray that we have. And it’s a lovely crazy, but it is
Allison Tyler Jones (27:02): Almost always, sometimes it’s
April Graves (27:04): I know. It’s why we need our lens. I think that’s why ADHD people are so talented photography because it forces us to narrow down our scope, but we also see everything because we are so AD, we see everything that’s happening in that lens, and so it allows for a beautiful moment of perfection.
Allison Tyler Jones (27:23): Well, and how many people have said to you, oh, I’d just love to come watch you shoot or just be a fly on the wall and watch you, and you’re like, yeah, that’s never going to happen. I need all my brain cells and you standing over there watching me do that. It’s not going to facilitate a good result for my client. But it is endlessly fascinating. That’s why we watch documentaries about people that are great at what they do, because you love to see that creative process in action because it’s different for everyone. And so to let our clients in on that, as we’re checking up on them, we’re checking in and intersecting with, Hey, I saw this about you. But then also just letting them know about things that are going on, whether that’s behind the scenes posting, like you said, organic posting on social, about what’s happening in your studio, like the painting, or have you done any of that? Have you done any posting about your
April Graves (28:11): I have. Yeah, I have.
Allison Tyler Jones (28:11): And how’s that gone?
April Graves (28:12): So well received. People freak out. They’re just like, oh my gosh. It is just a different layer. It’s a whole nother. So it really adds to the level that we’re elevating to that constant movement and change and improvement. Speaking of watching behind the scenes, so there’s a French film about Renoir, and it is phenomenal. It’s all subtitled and it follows him in his older years.
Allison Tyler Jones (28:40): What’s it called?
April Graves (28:42): I think it’s just look up Renoir. I can’t remember the name of it. I hate to say it, but it’s all subtitled and it is just so stunning. It is racy. His muses were muses in several ways, even as an older man, but it’s beautiful, the women bathing in the stream, it shows what it was like where his maid would pack a picnic and they would all go and it would just be this beautiful day. And then he would create, and eventually people are wet and half naked, and that’s okay.
Allison Tyler Jones (29:14): Just get your French on.
April Graves (29:16): And to watch the artistry at play. And then to know that he had such bad arthritis that he actually had to have his hand taped up and everything. Really. Yeah, I mean, you’re like this man loved to create because the pain he was in at the end of every day, but not being able to put down a paintbrush is phenomenal. Are you looking,
Allison Tyler Jones (29:39): Is it this one?
April Graves (29:39): I believe so. Yeah, I think so.
Allison Tyler Jones (29:42): Okay. We’ll link to it.
April Graves (29:44): Yeah. I’ll double triple check and I’ll let you know for sure.
Allison Tyler Jones (29:47): It says, Renoir is a 2012 French drama film based on the last years of Pierre Augusta Renoir at Cagnes-sur-Mer in during World War I.
April Graves (29:57): I’m sure that,
Allison Tyler Jones (29:58): And it won 2012 Con Film Festival.
April Graves (30:02): It’s stunning.
Allison Tyler Jones (30:03): I’ll love that. Yeah, my husband speaks French, so we’ll be watching that for sure. And we’ve toured in Normandy where that whole Deauville, Trouville, all of those where the English Channel meets the Seine and the light that all the impressionists,
April Graves (30:20): I don’t dunno what it, but amazing. Yeah, I took myself to the Art Institute on Monday for a whole day. That’s the beauty of being in Chicago.
Allison Tyler Jones (30:28): One of my favorites. Love it.
April Graves (30:29): First thing. I’ve done it in a while. Did you ever read The Artist Way? I read it a million years ago and I have it again. I should do it. I bought it for my daughter and I do together, but we haven’t. But I went, took myself on an artist date and I brought my journal and I went and sat in the courtyard and I journaled. I journal every morning, but in my journal, I wrote to myself about how I needed to be open to whatever the art and the museum was telling me and follow it so that it would show me my next steps and to get clarity on my creativity. And then I went in and it was just magical. I’ve been there a thousand times. I’ve never been through the museum that way. It was amazing. I actually got into the Gilded era and I literally was in happy tears. I was literally tears in my, I’m rolling down my face. It was so enchanting and just,
Allison Tyler Jones (31:20): Well, that’s so much of the style of that oil that sergeant.
April Graves (31:25): Yes. Yes. And standing in front of pieces that I have looked at before, but studying them differently and just like I was looking more for the brushstrokes and the brushwork and how they do things, but then there were pieces in these masterpieces and little bits. I never noticed a man in the corner watching the woman in the red hat that you see him when you really get up and you pay attention. So it was really cool. It was pretty special.
Allison Tyler Jones (31:52): Well, and again, that goes back to you have to have time to do that and also make yourself do it. I think we’re willing to, when you’re on vacation or you’re on a trip, you’re willing to go do something like that, but in your own backyard, it’s like me who’ve never been to the Grand Canyon and I live in Arizona,
April Graves (32:11): You’re like, oh, oh,
Allison Tyler Jones (32:12): Oopsie. Yeah.
April Graves (32:13): And that’s like the art institute. Anytime someone comes in town, I take ’em to the Art Institute, but I’m always on their time of it. If they want see the impressionist, I end the impressionist. If they want the modern wing, I’m in the modern way’s, never on my time
Allison Tyler Jones (32:29): To be able to just go and sit there and just absorb. I was just talking with another one of our MindShift Members just before I recorded this, Alicia Insley Smith. And just thinking about how I feel like there is kind of this low level anxiety, dread, fear out there right now. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s just, it’s me, I don’t know. But I think people feel kind of nervous or kind of worried or kind of what’s happening in the world, and there’s a lot going on globally. So I just feel like there’s kind of a little low level dread. You’re not feeling or seeing a lot of joy, and we really can be the bringers of that, but we can’t if we don’t fill our cup with it first.
April Graves (33:16): Exactly. You had to put on your mask first, airplane, your mask, and then there was a need next to you. If you can’t breathe, you can’t breathe life into somebody else.
Allison Tyler Jones (33:28): And I feel like sometimes we get into the mode of, okay, I’m not having enough bookings. I’m not, because honestly, I mean, COVID was great for us as far as bookings, and I mean, it was like two, three years of just like boom, boom, boom. And so now things are, every year is different, right? In business, you have to figure out, okay, so if we’re not booking as much this year, then what does that mean? What do we need to do? Or if we’re booking a lot of this type of thing, but we want to be booking these other types of things, so we always have to be looking at it. But if we’re in this mode of like, oh my gosh, I’m scared. What do I do? That’s a different way of approaching it. Then you know what, I’m going to go to the Art Institute and sit with my journal and just see what these paintings want to teach me and what creativity. That’s lovely.
April Graves (34:13): Yeah, it was so nice. I’ve committed myself to doing that for myself once a month just going and letting myself have that time to just really absorb. I mean, it gave me so much clarity on what I want in my creativity and out of life, and it just was like, okay, this is worth every moment. And so Art Institute, I dunno if you’ve been there, but Millennium Park,
Allison Tyler Jones (34:36): Yes. Love it.
April Graves (34:37): It’s right next to it. Fun fact, one of my best clients is the architect who designed Millennium Park, so that’s kind of fun. Oh,
Allison Tyler Jones (34:44): That’s fun.
April Graves (34:45): And so I went to where they do the concerts. It’s not really a bandshell, but it’s phenomenal. And there’s the Chicago Symphony Orchestra practicing, so I could just sit down for an hour and listen to the CSO practice for free.
Allison Tyler Jones (34:58): You just basically had a Ferris Bueller Day out. Oh,
April Graves (35:01): It was magic. It was
Allison Tyler Jones (35:03): So good. My
April Graves (35:04): Daughter and I went for wonderful dinner. Yeah, it was so good. But I think we need to remember to do that for ourselves and just the time to kind of regain. So
Allison Tyler Jones (35:14): I know the last couple of portrait sessions that I’ve done, I’ve like, okay, I need to fill the, well, right? And I don’t live in Chicago. I mean, I live in Phoenix. We have an art museum, but I like, okay, I need to get geared up for this. So we’ve done the consultation. I know what the client, what we’re working toward, but creatively, what am I doing? And so just being able to sit and look at, okay, these are the ages of their kids. What are other things I’ve done for clients that have those ages of kids pulling that up, figuring out where it’s hanging in their home. And then just going through my visual library that I already have pulling out my Mark Seliger books or Annie Leibovitz or just whatever coffee table books I have, pulling up the Pinterest feed and just printing things out, copying, sketching, and then just even I pulled out a v flat and just taped my sketches up onto the v flat. So then when the clients come in and I have their last family portrait pinned up there, just a printout on a piece of copy paper, and they’re like, oh, this is so cool. What is this? And I’m just thoughts and ideas. And so they’re getting excited about it in a different way.
April Graves (36:27): Exactly.
Allison Tyler Jones (36:28): And so that has been really fun. And so I think there’s just, we’re creatives. That’s what we do. We can think of so many different ways to do things.
April Graves (36:37): Yes, exactly. And I think it’s brilliant that you have it up for them to see when they walk in, because it shows how vested you are in that next portrait being as special, if not more special than the last one.
Allison Tyler Jones (36:52): Well, I mean, my sketches aren’t great. Mean they’re not good, but you can see the rough idea. And then I found too, with the kids and the family, I’m like, okay, come over here and look at this. See these brothers. So this is kind of what I’m thinking of, but I want to do a little bit different, but just go sit how you think. They’re sitting right there. Go sit like that, and then let them put themselves there. Then I can refine from there. And some of them would take on the pose. They thought they were cool. Some guy was smoking a cigarette, he’s acting like he’s smoking a cigarette or whatever. So it’s fun to see how they interpret it. So then it’s more collaborative and they feel like, wow, this is really cool. She did these sketches for us.
April Graves (37:32): That’s awesome. Yeah, that’s a really fun way to approach a family portrait too. It is funny because I do different types and different genres of photography. First of all, I am a very, I know you’re like, WOO WOO WOO, you’re so much fun in your sessions. And I’m like, woo woo. On my side, my woo woo is very mellow and
Allison Tyler Jones (37:52): Ethereal.
April Graves (37:53): Ethereal beautiful. But it’s really funny because sometimes we’ll do a family portrait and a fairy portrait within two weeks to each other, and I’ll tell the mother, it’ll be a very different experience for the fairies because for the family, you have to bring a different energy. But it’s such a fun, my fairytales, I’m connecting to their imaginations and for the families, I’m connecting to their humanity and to their love, and it, they’re equally fun. It’s just being able to approach ’em in that way.
Allison Tyler Jones (38:27): Well, and even that, you’ve thought about it to that level. It’s not just like, okay, so I got to get these three poses and this. It’s having that layer of meaning in everything that you do is great. I love that.
April Graves (38:38): It’s a lot of fun.
Allison Tyler Jones (38:39): It’s super fun, which is why you’re such a valuable member of our community, and I appreciate you so much.
April Graves (38:44): Thank you. Thank
Allison Tyler Jones (38:46): You. I have three pages of notes right here. Okay. So do you have any advice, is there something that you kind of wish that you’d known sooner that you would like to give to anybody listening to this that’s maybe struggling in some way? What is something that you wish that you had known sooner?
April Graves (39:03): Sure. So I really think that people get too caught up in their heads and that they get too caught up in their life occurrences, that they don’t take the time to see their own value. And there is something beautiful about being able to reframe your own story and to empower yourself to approach things in a different way and to see possibility where it feels impossible. And so I’ve always been a very optimistic person, and my nickname was Pollyanna as a child. So that’s really who I am. But I think it’s so important for people to see their own value and to see their own worth and to embrace that, and then to freely put themselves in the world.
Allison Tyler Jones (39:55): If somebody said to you, if you don’t feel that way, if you feel like that you’re struggling to see your own value, what’s a place to start to see that?
April Graves (40:07): One of the things I will do is I will do this exercise, look at what you’ve done, and I say it to myself in an angry tone. Look at what you’ve done, and then you’re going to write down what you’ve done, and you’re going to set a timeframe. It could be in the last year or the last month, the last six months, the last week, the last day. But when you look back in your life at what you’ve accomplished versus what held you back, your accomplishments will shine brighter than anything else, and you’ll be floored to see what you’ve done.
Allison Tyler Jones (40:43): That is so true. I believe that with every fiber, by being, going back, I think we’re talking a lot about a ADD today, but I think that’s part of that too, is you’re kind of like, okay, I did that great looking. We’re on a Zoom call right now, but obviously this is just audio for the podcast, but I’m looking at two beautiful portraits that are behind you. One is of a young girl in a blue, looks like a blue satin dress on a staircase, and then the other is a fairy portrait in a garden. And so you probably finish that and you’re like, okay, we delivered it. Great, done, check next onto the next thing. But do you ever just sit back and just look at your body of work, what you’ve done, how many amazing pieces of art that you’ve created as Kim Wiley would say, pieces of your soul that are hanging on the walls all around your community.
April Graves (41:31): And it’s really true. We don’t look at it often enough. We get so caught up in the minutia. It’s the 2021 files of fairies that I was like, who in the world is that kid? And it’s the moments where you’re like, I mean, I look at every portrait that I have hanging in my studio here, and I remember each of those moments. I can remember the story that happened within creating that image for that family. I also use that constantly in sales. I can throw the portrait of a little boy that you can’t see that he’s an aviator. And he got out of the car, he’d been sleeping. It was hot. He had to wear a leather jacket, 95 degree weather. It was crazy. And this kid just turned it on. There’s just those moments that yes, and to look back at the body of work that we’ve created and to appreciate how far we’ve come and appreciate that we’ve managed to make things even when it’s hard on other levels in our lives. It’s not always, life isn’t always perfect, but we do have to show up because people are counting on us,
Allison Tyler Jones (42:32): And hopefully we can count on ourselves. And like I say, we’ve survived a hundred percent of everything that life has thrown at us up to this point. So yay,
April Graves (42:42): Yay. I always say, I always used to say, God only gives you as much as you can handle. I remember watching my nephew when he was just shy of a year old and trying to get up the stairs at my sister’s duplex that she lived in, and he would go up and he’d fall and he’d go up and fall, and I’d watch his frustration. Then I watched him get to the top of the stairs in absolute victory and triumph. And I looked and I was like, that’s what you can handle now. And then you’ve got to have the win. And so we all have those moments where we have to climb up the stairs and fall down and climb up, and then you get the, and you’ve managed
Allison Tyler Jones (43:19): Well. And I’ve always hated that quote, just pure candor. You won’t be given more than you can handle because I feel like so many of us do get more than you can handle, but handle alone. So the world will crush you. The world can crush you, circumstances can crush you if you’re alone. And so reaching out for help, reaching out for whether that’s spiritual help, brand help, get help, don’t suffer alone and don’t go it alone. When you’re going alone to the art institute, you’re going in and you’re standing on the shoulders of all those artists who have gone before, who doubted themselves, who half of them probably died poppers and didn’t get paid for those million dollar paintings that are hanging, those people that have gone before. I just have to believe they’re somewhere in heaven watching April Graves sitting at the Art Institute and knowing that they’re inspiring a next generation of artists. That’s amazing that we can’t do it alone. We need each other. And I’m so grateful to have you in my world that you’re in our world. I love our group. And I think not going it alone is a good way to not rolled over.
April Graves (44:32): I totally agree. And in all of that, I mean, if anyone listened to the last podcast, we’re not going to revisit what we chatted about because they can listen to that one. But I needed a hand. I needed someone to lift me up. And so it was you, I mean, it was your Art of Selling Art course. It was hearing your voice in a moment of darkness and being able to remember who I was made to be, because we’re all made for greatness. And you’re right, we do need to be able to reach out to each other and nobody’s perfect. And I think people get really caught up in idealizing or idolizing the person that they see and not realizing that there are absolute struggles behind everybody’s story.
Allison Tyler Jones (45:13): For sure. And being able to, just to go back to where we started, you’re abbreviated, less but better idea that when we really hone in on like, okay, if I could do this business exactly how I wanted to do it, which we should all be thinking that if I could do it exactly how I wanted and only shoot exactly how I want, what would I shoot for? Alicia Insley Smith that we just talked to, she was beat maternity and newborn. For you, it’s going to be equestrian, fairy, and family, which those are very different things, but how you honing in and going deeper into that and then really building those relationships allows you to have more time to put more layers of creativity into it, more layers of meaning, and not just be running around doing just more of the same. It actually fills your soul as you’re doing it. And isn’t that what we wanted? Isn’t that why we got into this business?
April Graves (46:13): Exactly right. Yeah, no, it is so true. I do feel like we just get very lost in having to get things done. I think my kids, I’ve got one year left in college, and then we’re out of college tuition jail, you know what I mean? And so not that there are other debts and other things we want to do and other, but in seeing the freedom, but it’s like, what do you want to do? What do you want to be? Who’s the best version of you? And don’t wait until you’re 50 to do it. Be a little less fearful and have faith and delve in deep and go hard at it, but go hard at what you want. Don’t go hard at what someone else thinks you should have.
Allison Tyler Jones (46:52): Absolutely love that. So true. You know what, if you’re 70 and you want to do it, it’s not too late. It’s never too late.
April Graves (47:03): I talked to my client of mine and I was like, she lives a beautiful life. She’s just beautiful. She’s an amazing artist. She’s such inspiration. I think she’s in her eighties. I could be wrong, but she’s amazing. And she is probably one of the most talented artists I’ve ever met. She’s a painter. And I was like, you’ve just lived your dream life. And she said it wasn’t always a dream life, but she never lost sight of what the dream would look like. And her husband worked to get there and believed there’s a lot of faith behind what they’ve done and a lot of believing. And I’m just like, there is something super beautiful in that.
Allison Tyler Jones (47:37): And you have to learn that too. That’s not something, some people, it does come naturally too. If you’re a Pollyanna, I think that can come more naturally, but you’ve been knocked down enough to have that knocked out of you. And so you have to keep choosing to believe in yourself. So I love that. That’s such good advice. So tell our listeners where they can find you. Give us your website address and your Instagram feed if you would please.
April Graves (47:59): Sure. So it’s Light Drawn Studios, and you can just go to lightdrawnstudios.com
Allison Tyler Jones (48:06): And it’s light drawn, drawn in light.
April Graves (48:09): So for those of us in the industry who don’t know, photograph is Latin for to draw with light. And so my mother named that studio actually. She’s the one who came up with the name. So lightdrawnstudios.com, and then light drawn studios, Instagram and light drawn studios, beautiful things with wings on Facebook, but they’re so synonymous now. Do you want to talk about this book?
Allison Tyler Jones (48:30): Oh yes. Tell me about your book.
April Graves (48:32): Okay.
Allison Tyler Jones (48:33): Oh yeah. Jeff Dachowski was telling me about this book. Tell me about your book. Yeah,
April Graves (48:37): Jeff told me about the book. I’m like, plug to you, sir.
Allison Tyler Jones (48:41): 10x, 10x is easier than 2x
April Graves (48:43): 10X is easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan. Anything Dan Sullivan writes is phenomenal. If I could get one-on-one time with anybody in the world, he’d be the guy. I’m a nerdy highlighter.
Allison Tyler Jones (48:57): I love it.
April Graves (48:59): Ever since I got this book, I read it in three days and I reread it over and over again. And it kind of gets you a lot like that. Less is better. Drilling down, getting down to your absolute best version of you. This book is the grail for it.
Allison Tyler Jones (49:13): I love it. Well, I bought this audio book, but I haven’t started it yet, so I’m going to read it. But we’re link it in the show notes so everybody can get it as well. And anything else? Any favorite podcast, binge watch?
April Graves (49:24): Oh gosh. So podcasts, I hate to say it’s usually, I hate to, but it’s yours. And then I do, what’s his name? It’s terrible. StoryBrand. Donald Miller.
Allison Tyler Jones (49:36): Donald Miller.
April Graves (49:37): Love Donald Miller. And then binge watch. I am just in the mercy of whatever my husband and my children choose. I mean, we of course like Bridgerton and things like that because I love historic fiction. Super nerdy moment. I love Anne with an E, so Oh yeah. But it’s kind of a more contemporary version. It’s a version that’s got more contemporary thought processes to it
Allison Tyler Jones (50:02): And issues, social
April Graves (50:03): Issues that they approach in it. But if I am ever sitting and I need to write a piece that is creative and I am stuck, I pop in an hour of Anne with an E because she is so fruity and eloquent that I just love that. Oh, now I know what that transition sentence is for that piece of writing,
Allison Tyler Jones (50:20): Which I love that because you do get so much inspiration from weird, different things like that. That’s so good. I love that. Well, thank you so much for being here. That was such a good, I feel inspired. I’m going to go get my art on.
April Graves (50:35): Yay. Good. I can’t wait to hear what you do.
Allison Tyler Jones (50:38): I know. Well, you will be hearing about it because I’ll be seeing you before too long.
April Graves (50:42): Alright. Perfect. Okay, thanks so much.
Allison Tyler Jones (50:43): So much. Alright, thank you so much. I appreciate your help today and so glad to have you here and so glad you look amazing. You’re glowing. Just happy to see you. Doing well,
April Graves (50:53): Thank you. Thanks so much. Have a great day.
Recorded (50:59): You can find more great resources fromAllison@dotherework.com and on Instagram at do dot the rework.
