Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you are all doing well and had a great weekend!

September 22nd marked the official start to the Fall Season, and I couldn’t be more excited! As much as I love the warmer weather, sunshine, and beachy summer days – this part of the year brings out such good feelings for me. I absolutely love the Holiday season, the nostalgia of it all (especially as I watch back old childhood Halloween and Christmas movies), and getting to spoil my friends and family.

For this weeks blog, I really just wanted to have a nice little catch-up chat with you all! Ironically, the Fall Season tends to actually be the busiest season for me – so you might consider this the equivalent to when the A.M. and P.M. crews cross paths and give updates before walking into the chaos (LOL)! Or, maybe you’re in the same boat and are craving a nice, mindless conversation.

Regardless of where you at in your Creative Seasons, I’m here to take your mind off of it all. So, as usual – grab your comfiest seat, your coziest blanket, and your favorite afternoon beverage – and let’s chat!

September Recap

The month of September brought so many challenges, surprises, and growth. It marked the end of my 2-month-long break, yet was also one of the busiest months I’ve had this year (as far as bookings go). I feared throughout the duration of my break that I was essentially “signing off” on the death of my brand in the name/for the sake of my Mental Health (dramatic, I know…). As someone who still considers themselves new to the industry, I was really worried that anything less than “constant output and growth” was a risk for my business. However, looking back – I realize that the path I was headed down (with so much going on in my personal and professional life) definitely held more risk than this break ever could have. After this month, that very realization was proven to me in real-time.

Lizzie’s All-Natural Products Grand Re-Opening

My first booking of the month of September was assisting Christen of Lizzie’s All-Natural Products with her Grand Re-Opening and moving to a new storefront in Downtown Winston-Salem! This was my first time working 1:1 with her (my husband has done a couple of videos for her in the past), and I had such a wonderful time working with and being surrounded by such strong, kind, and talented women! I’m a HUGE lover and advocate of a good self-care routine, and I genuinely stand behind and recommend her products!

Ruhe Liebe Branding: Phase Two

Next on the To-Do List for Ruhe Liebe meant getting a new set of Branding Photos taken! As per usual, I hit up my girl Emily (Emily McPartland Photography) to help me with this! IYKYK, she’s been with me through all of my Engagement, Wedding, Anniversary, and Branding Photos and I truly couldn’t recommend or love her work more than I do now. She always is so supportive of me and my brand, and any new ideas or ventures I have coming up. We ended up shooting at Lumina Studio Lofts, and I had such a great time throughout the session! I think the photos came out perfect, and I can’t wait to share more of them with all of you!!

Event Branding with Haven Coffee

Within days of my Branding Shoot, I was back on the road on the way to the Heights House in Durham for a Public Networking Event with Haven Coffee. The intention behind this shoot was simply to get some updated Branding Photos for Kash & Zach‘s Coffee Cart business – Haven Coffee. If you remember, they were the Coffee Vendors for my Styled Shoot – Love Letters in the Spring – back in the beginning half of this year. Well, they’ve stuck with me ever since (see how I make that sound like it’s up to them.. LOL) and it was so nice getting to see and work with them again! I loved seeing them interact with the other people at the event, and – as always – their coffee was delicious as ever! They’re truly some of the best people I’ve met; in general and within the event industry.

Studio Branding Session with Jon Keller Photography

Continuing on with this “Branding” theme we have here, came a Studio Branding Session with/for Jon Keller Photography. I’ll share more about how that came to happen in the future – nevertheless, this session was one for the books! Oddly enough, it was my first time doing a Branding Session for a male client. I honestly underestimated how different that would be leading up to the actual session, but the images we took are genuinely some of my new favorites! The goal was to find a balance between his personality and versatility in using said photos. We stuck with (mostly) very neutral, “simple” poses with some detail shots mixed in so he would be able to use his photos for as many different purposes as possible – including Social Media Posts, his Business Website, Event Marketing, and so on. I’m so excited to finally be able to share more from his Gallery!

The Goddard’s Five-Year Anniversary

To wrap up the month of September – and what originally started as just a “Creative Session at a lake“, quickly evolved into celebrating Mindy & Kevin‘s five-year Wedding Anniversary. If you’re wondering why the last name sounds familiar, it’s because Mindy is a fellow Photographer (GoddardGalleries)! This was my first time meeting her in-person, though we’ve been mutuals on Social Media for quite some time now. When I posted on my stories looking for a couple willing to model for me for a Lake Session, she was the first to respond! From there, the rest was history. Within a couple of weeks, we were all at the docks on Lake Norman! I was so excited to edit their photos that their completed Gallery was in their inbox within just a few hours of completing their session!

Plans for the Future & Closing Thoughts

With Phase Two of Ruhe Liebe coming up in January of 2027 – I’m honestly just taking the booking opportunities, clients, and second-shooting dates as they come. I truly could not be more excited for all of my upcoming Styled Shoots, and have been working so hard to make sure this series is one for the books! That being said, I’m allowing the slower parts of the remainder of this year be my times to pour even more into these upcoming events.

If I could summarize my approach to these coming months and the year of 2027 into just a couple of words: Intentional and Slow-Paced.

I learned my lesson before my break about packing on thing after thing, to-do after to-do, and side-quest after side-quest. I think, for some reason, my brain was trying to convince me that since I’m still so new to the industry that I ALWAYS have to work as hard and as much as possible in order to catch up to my peers (success-wise) and compensate for my later arrival into Photography. We hear all throughout our lives that “comparison is the thief of joy“, and it’s been a struggle for me to get that concept through my head. Though my intentions are always good, spreading myself so thin was beginning to regularly lead me down paths of stress, overwhelm, forgetfulness, and regret/embarrassment for the simple fact that I very obviously wasn’t capable of keeping up with such an unrealistic workload.

Learning to slow down and be more intentional with every aspect of my work and business so far, yes – sometimes leads to even longer slow seasons and so on – but I truly believe it will also (in time) build a brand that feels much more honest and long-lasting. My goal isn’t to simply make the most money, have the most clients, or use the nicest gear. It is – and always has been – to build a brand that feels like HOME. This break was a nice reminder and way to re-center myself in that goal and mindset.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck by Ruhe Liebe throughout all of its many seasons of growth. I cannot wait to see where this next chapter takes us.

Talk soon!

Katelynn | Ruhe Liebe Photography

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