Show Notes
This week Brad and Jen sit down with Perry Vaile, a destination and editorial wedding photographer, historian, educator, and creative whose life stretches far beyond the wedding industry.
What begins as a conversation about Perry’s mountain home in North Carolina quickly turns into something much bigger: ambition, success, identity, community, social media, and what it means to build a life that doesn’t depend on your work to fulfill you.
Perry shares the story of building a 15-year photography career, the moments she felt like she had finally “made it,” and how her relationship to success has evolved over time. From photographing a Victoria’s Secret supermodel’s wedding to intentionally removing social media from her phone, she offers a refreshing perspective on staying connected to what matters while working in an industry built on visibility and comparison.
Together, we explore boundaries, hobbies, community, family, creativity, and the challenge of building a successful career without sacrificing the life around it.
We also explore: • Living a “split life” between the mountains and the city, and why each pace feeds the other • Buying land on instinct and building a home designed to last generations • The two moments Perry felt like she had “made it” • Finding the confidence to stand up for her work on a make-or-break deadline • Entering a world of wealth without attaching her worth to it • Why real memories matter more than staged perfection • Removing social media from her phone and creating healthier boundaries • Archery, needlepoint, gardening, reading, and building a life outside the industry • Creating local community on purpose • Holding success open-handedly and defining it on your own terms • Working smarter, protecting rest, and avoiding burnout • Why “going quiet” may be the biggest risk for photographers today
Connect with Perry Website: https://perryvaile.com/ Instagram: @perryvaile
Connect with Us Join Purpose & Profit – A Roadmap to 10k Weddings Apply for the Mastermind Program - High level 1:1 creative coaching & community.
Chapters (00:00) Welcome and the seven-weekend stretch ahead (01:00) A split life between the mountains and Raleigh (03:30) Buying the land and building a forever home (08:45) The long view: who do you want to be at 70? (14:00) Fifteen years in and the moments she “made it” (22:00) Chutzpah, film deadlines, and confidence (24:00) Wealth, worth, and belonging in luxury spaces (27:00) The historian’s approach to photography (32:00) Redefining success and holding it loosely (40:00) Protecting the craft from the industry (42:00) Social media boundaries and bricking the phone (48:00) Hobbies, books, and building community (56:00) Perspective, gratitude, and figure-out-able problems (59:00) Working smarter and protecting rest (01:13:00) What matters now and why going quiet is risky (01:20:00) Books, recommendations, and what’s next
Keywords: wedding photography, destination wedding photographer, boundaries, work-life balance, redefining success, building community, photographer mindset, burnout, rest and margin, intentional living, historic preservation, film photography, photographer education
More from More Than Photos
Most success stories are told years after the climb. When a photographer has already reached the pinnacle of their journey. This one is a little different. Dalton & Breanna Upchurch are in the middle of a season that's changing the trajectory of their business, and we had a front-row seat to the last year of it. When they joined our Mastermind, they were already making beautiful wedding films and running a good business. But they were also beginning to feel the weight of a demanding schedule, constant travel, and a business that wasn't quite supporting the life they wanted to build. Over the next year, they began making some pretty significant changes. Raising their prices, moving into a higher-end market, pursuing new relationships and opportunities, and becoming more confident in the work they were already creating. But what makes their story special isn't just the business growth. It's how deeply rooted they've remained in their family, their values, and their love for filmmaking. In this conversation, we talk about the decisions that changed their direction, learning to trust your artistic voice, the role of mentorship and community, and why building a bigger business doesn't have to mean giving up the things that matter most. And perhaps our favorite part...is that so much of what they've been working toward is still ahead of them. We're getting to hear their story while it's still unfolding. Themes Building a life-first business Moving upmarket without losing yourself The power of mentorship and borrowed belief Knowing yourself before knowing yourself as an artist The growth nobody can see yet Marriage, creativity, and building something together Falling in love with the pursuit Links
You want to make better work. So you save photographs. Study photographers you admire. Build mood boards. Buy the camera. Try on editing styles... And somehow, you still feel stuck. In this episode, Brad shares his own journey of trying to grow creatively, including the mentoring experiences that changed how he saw his work, 3 days in Brooklyn with Ritual Collective, and the realization that his creative voice wasn't something someone else could hand him. This is an episode about inspiration, taste, mentorship, creative resistance, trusting your own work, and learning to hear the quiet voice that says: Go there. CHAPTERS 00:00 — When wanting to grow keeps you stuck 02:40 — Inspiration vs. participating in your own creativity 04:41 — When successful work stops feeling like your work 07:00 — Looking for mentors to help me “see the ants” 09:09 — Three days in Brooklyn with Ritual Collective 11:31 — The good photographs I didn't actually need 13:31 — What if creative growth is about removing, not adding? 14:45 — Changing how I photograph to stay connected to myself 15:55 — Joel Bedford and “go to the balcony” 17:57 — Your creative voice whispers 19:28 — Arriving creatively uncluttered 20:19 — The man behind the glass door 22:43 — Did any of this actually fix the stuckness? 24:06 — The walking reveals the map LINKS More Than Photos episode w/ Joel & Justyna: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2xYjmcfls4e1OoBG01u9qJ?si=6d81e69289ce4e17 Brad & Jen Education: https://learn.bradandjen.com/
A few years ago, Sav & Cam found themselves in a place a lot of photographers know well. The business was working, but the work didn’t feel like where they wanted to stay. That realization started a pretty massive shift. In this episode, we talk with Sav & Cam about what changed over the last few years, from the weddings they were photographing and the work they were making to the opportunities, relationships, and clients that followed. But this isn’t really a conversation about “making it.” It’s about giving yourself permission to want something different. Getting serious about your work. Learning to say no to opportunities that don’t fit where you’re going. And realizing that even when things are working, you might still need to stop and ask whether they’re taking you where you actually want to go. We also get into creativity and taste, working together as a married photo + video team, their relationship with social media, the unexpected connections that changed their career, and why some of the photographers who appear to have “made it” are still figuring it out too. THEMES • Changing direction when your business is technically working • Getting out of the box you’ve built around yourself • Developing stronger taste and creative conviction • Why better-fit work often requires saying no • The invisible relationships and decisions behind growth • Film, imperfection, and making photographs that feel honest • Documentary photography and creating space for real moments • Social media, attention, and protecting your creativity • Working together as a married photo + video team • Ambition, determination, and the myth of finally “arriving” CHAPTERS 00:00 – Meet Sav & Cam 07:30 – Hawaii, home, and building a life together 15:00 – Working together as a married creative team 24:00 – Photography, filmmaking, and finding their roles 32:00 – The breaking point that started a bigger change 40:00 – Getting out of the box and believing something different was possible 48:00 – Film, creativity, taste, and making work that feels like you 57:00 – The unexpected relationships that changed their career 1:05:00 – Saying no, better-fit weddings, and protecting what you actually want 1:14:00 – Documentary photography and making room for real moments 1:22:00 – Social media, attention, and the wedding industry 1:30:00 – Ambition, success, and why nobody really “arrives” 1:38:00 – What Sav & Cam are questioning and chasing next LINKS Sav & Cam: https://www.savandcam.com/
What makes a photograph last? Reni Maria has spent years thinking about that question, both through her own work as a documentary wedding photographer and as the founder of Counterpart Photos, a collective celebrating some of the most distinct voices in wedding photography today.
There’s a frustrating point in business where things are working, but it starts to feel like there’s nowhere obvious left to go.