We had the opportunity to feature Soul Threading earlier this year and now they are back again with answers to the questions you all have been asking. Before we get started, here’s a refresher on this adorable photog duo:
Soul Threading is a husband and wife team creating imagery that portrays how stunning you are, your love is for someone and how uniquely beautiful your craft/business’ portfolio is! Including weddings/engagements, lifestyle portraiture and events, commercial images for your business, and so on. Locally, Stacey and Benjamin serve the Gainesville, FL area, specializing in modern lifestyle portraiture focusing on anything that has love and feeling. They also love to travel and have journeyed cross-country to photograph many special events. Other services Soul Threading provides is videography and printing {from business cards, canvases, flyers, table cards, photographs, and books, to letter head, tear-off cards, car magnetics, stickers, and much more!} Click here to check out our website. You can also become a fan of Soul Threading on Facebook!
We interviewed Benjamin and Stacey to get the inside scoop on what it’s like working with your spouse. Here is what they had to say:
How long have you been married?
Going on 3 years this August.
How did you meet?
We met 7 ½ years ago at an open mic jam in Chicago, IL. We were both performing artists {Stacey – played guitar // Ben – HipHop Emcee}. We just started talking at the jam while looking at art and hit it off. It was the start of our journey together from then on…. 🙂
What’s the best thing about working together?
During the shoot, it’s nice to ping ideas off of one another. It’s great to be able to give each other comfortable constructive critiques, all in the while enjoying our talents together. Also it is an incredible way to spend quality time with each other, there is a unique bond that forms when we work hard together to gather the best moments for our clients. We tend to get a bit emotional with every story, it’s a sweet connection.
What’s the worst thing about working together? Getting in a silly disagreement about something petty, and it always never means anything at the end of the day… sometimes it seems inevitable to have our own opinions, and we’re getting better on how we approach each other each time. We’re always very encouraging otherwise and rave about how well the session went afterwards!
What do you primarily shoot?
Together, we primarily shoot couples and weddings. Although we have also occasionally worked together on family/children shoots as well. Stacey will also grab portrait sessions for artists or commercial sessions for local businesses.
Was there ever a time where either one of you shot solo?
Stacey shot solo up to a little over a year ago. She still does sometimes with other sessions. Majority of weddings and engagements we do together though!
When and why did you decide to work together?
We’ve talked about it a while ago, but officially decided a little more than a year ago when we changed the business name to Soul Threading. We’re both creative thinkers, so when we brainstorm about sessions, there is always new and fresh ideas to come up with! It was a very natural and effortless transition into working together as a team.
How do you keep the love alive instead of everything being all about business?
We make time to do our own personal work outside of the business. For example, we will do fun timer shots with the family or day in the life shots to recall the rawness of lifestyle photography. Not only does it sharpen our skills, but it brings in quality time.
What’s one thing that you both have not agreed on when it came to business and how did you decide what to do about that? Because Stacey does majority of the communication with clientele, sometimes there are disagreements on how to go about project management. Solution? We come to realization that it is best to have one person {at this time} communicating with clientele; this has always brought things to a happier medium. Although in the future, our hope is to have both of us handling a fair share of client communications/project management.
What are your top 3 pieces of advice for couples wanting to pursue photography together?
1. Humbling your self to one another and building off each other’s strengths.
2. Scouting locations prior to the sessions with each other.
3. Have fun with it! This creates comfortable and enjoyable environments for everyone.
What’s your top 3 do’s/don’ts for shooting together:
1. Don’t get in the way of each other’s shots. Do talk about placements prior to the event that is about to happen.
2. Don’t mix up memory cards. Do organize the equipment very specifically prior to the shoot.
3. Don’t get off track when in the moment. Do make a timely planned schedule prior to the event {weddings especially}, and stick to it.
QUICK* Write the first thing that comes to mind:
Stacey what’s your favorite thing about Benjamin? I love how he shares a similar humor with me, as well as sharing a similar sentimental empathy.
Benjamin what’s your favorite thing about Stacey? I love her eagerness to serve people with excellence.
Favorite lens you can’t live without? It’s really hard to choose between the 85mm and the 28mm! Those are equally used on every shoot.
NO, really, who had the interest of photography first? Stacey was taking photography classes and had the desire to start the business first. When we met, we’d go on photography missions in Chicago blizzards just to get her photography projects done. So it was Ben’s support that made a huge impact as well!
What’s next for Ben and Stacey? We have a new addition on the way, and he will be arriving in less than 2 months! A ‘workshop’ we will eventually offer are some local in-home mentoring sessions… something along the line of guiding someone on how to take a great everyday photo by learning how to paint with light in your own home. Stay tuned!!!
