1-1 Coaching/Mentoring

Are you interested in becoming a food photographer? Maybe you already have begun your journey but you can’t figure that one little thing out and google or YouTube are proving to be unhelpful. Whether you want to learn about photography, editing, or artificial light, I’m here to help you. We will chat about what exactly YOU need help with and get you on the road to mastering the skill. Perhaps even by the end of the call!

I have attended many conferences and workshops over the years. Some were great, some were complete letdowns. Some of them I walked away feeling duped. That I gave them a large sum of money (sometimes more than $1000) and learned basically nothing. I hated that feeling. I don’t stick to a set lesson plan on when you’re on a call with me. We work on what will benefit you the most. Whether you want to talk about aperture for the whole 90 minutes or you have questions across the board.

Finding a mentor is a big task. You want to find someone who is knowledgeable but doesn’t simply see the interaction as transactional. Someone who will genuinely care for you to succeed and isn’t isn’t giving you just enough information so that you come back needing them for more. There are a million people offering seemingly the same thing.

Why can you trust me?

I have been studying photography for over 20 years. Aside from food, I have professionally photographed (and still do) weddings, portraits, children, pets, landscapes, and astrophotography. Each genre giving me new tidbits of knowledge on how to use my camera a little bit differently. My camera is like an extension of my arm at this point. I know how to look at the amount of light, or my distance to the subject and instinctively know the best aperture, shutter speed, ISO.

Editing can seem super daunting when you first start doing it. Most of us make the same mistakes when presented with all of these fun new sliders. You can get caught up in what’s trendy, and look back at those images in a year and think.. what the hell? I’ve been there too. Editing has always been an enjoyable task to me. Shooting so many different genres of photography has taught me skills that can be translated into new ways when I edit a photograph of food. On average, It takes me about 30 minutes (or less) to edit an entire set of images from one bake or dish.

And then there’s light. Artificial light seems like the scariest of them all. SO MANY photographers rely on natural light because it’s “easy” and just one less thing to learn. I’m sure youve seen their bios “I’m a natural light photographer”. There’s NOTHING wrong with being a solely natural light photographer. In portraits and weddings I use as much natural light as possible until it’s becoming a hinderance. But, knowing when to bring in another skillset is what can set you apart. I will tell you my food images are far LESS consistent and much HARDER to edit when I use natural light though. Artificial light can be painless and make your images SO much better, and your workflow SO much faster. I can help you get to where you aren’t relying on mother nature for whether or not you can shoot today, or waiting for a certain window of time in the day. Your images will look consistent whether it’s 5am or 5pm, winter or summer, rain or shine.

I’ve never been able to find the right mentor for me. I’ve tried, and never felt like the people I paid cared, which sucked. So, I understand that feeling and want to provide an experience where it feels like you’re being helped by a friend rather than paying some person to pay attention to you.

What do you get?

  • Introductory emails where we will talk about what you are struggling with, and what you hope to gain from coaching.
  • 1-1 zoom call with me, where we can spend the call going over whatever topics you have chosen. We can do live help that is specific to your work. If you want your call to take place during a shoot, let’s do it! For editing, I’ll have me send me YOUR images and we will work on them together. I can demonstrate how I set up a scene or light it. Whatever YOU need to help you over your roadblocks.
  • Follow up emails/texting to help you in the future.
  • A friend in the foodie world. Working for yourself can be lonely, and I’m not going to disappear once the money is in the bank. How else would I cheer for your victories?

Chelsea of ChelseaPeactree.com

Let’s Chat

If you’re interested in just seeing if maybe I can help you, send me a message and we’ll find out. If I can’t help you, I may also know who can. I’ve invested in my own education and know of a lot of great resources for other topics I’m not as proficient in. I’m smart enough to know that we can’t be experts in EVERYTHING, but I’m happy to share all the knowledge I have in where I do exceed.