Capturing Family Memories with Kiera Liu [Modern Mom Date]

What if you could turn your family's everyday moments into lasting stories? In this episode, we welcome Kiera Liu, CEO and founder of Frame a Life Project, who shares her passion for visual storytelling. From practical tips on preserving memories to crafting compelling narratives through photography, Kiera offers valuable insights that will inspire you to capture the essence of your family's journey. She discusses her shift from traditional photo sessions to more meaningful, story-driven projects, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and fun. Kiera’s ability to capture real moments goes beyond taking a picture; it’s about creating memories that resonate with the true essence of her subjects, whether they are families or businesses.

In this episode, we discuss:
1. How visual storytelling can help entrepreneurs and mothers with their photos.
2. The importance of preserving family history and memories through photos.
3. Connecting with clients to understand their stories and incorporate these into their branding and personal photos.

You can connect with Kiera on:
Website http://www.frameoflife.co
Instagram http://instagram.com/frameoflifeproject

Photo & Family Heirloom Collection Tracker Template:
https://frameoflifeproject.ck.page/midlife

Join the Midlife Squad:
Want to stay up to date on the Don't Call Me Midlife podcast and community? Click below so we can keep you in the know!
www.itstradish.myflodesk.com/dontcallmemidlife

Hang Out on Social:
Follow Alix on Instagram @everydaywithalix
Follow Nicole on Instagram @touch_of_stass

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Help us expand our mom-tourage! Share our podcast with your fellow mom friends and let's conquer midlife together.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Welcome to the Don't Call Me Midlife podcast. I'm Nicole and I'm Alex. We're your coffee-addicted, wine-loving, amazon-obsessed mom squad. Think of us as your new besties, but with a podcast. And, just like you, we're navigating the Google-defined chaos of midlife while wrangling a pack of boys. But here's the twist we're more than just moms and wives. We're on a mission to reclaim our identities beyond motherhood, and we're bringing you along for the wild ride. Now, we don't pretend to have all the answers to life's mysteries, but we're so good at learning and laughing our way through them. So whether you're sipping from your trusty Stanley, indulging in an oat milk latte from Starbucks or raising a glass of Whispering Angel, get ready to hang with us. Together. We'll keep it real, have some laughs and remind you that this crazy journey called life is one adventure worth sharing. Hello, we are so excited about today's episode.

Speaker 1: 0:54

We have one of the most fun and energetic people I know. It's Kira. She is, I guess she's a CEO, founder of her company, frame a Life, but what she is is a visual storyteller and she works with entrepreneurs with their doing content or pictures. But she also works with just women or men that want to know how to preserve their pictures and how to make those memories last, and also how to tell the story around the picture. It's really beautiful. I mean, these are things that Nicole and I need to do right With our pictures. Yes, even if I wasn't in business, these are just tips that I would want to know, just to have in my back pocket. And she does give some great tips, so.

Speaker 1: 1:37

So you have to listen to some iPhone tips too Like you're not going to miss this. Yes, and if you are listening, make sure you check it out on YouTube, because she shows the phone and step-by-step, and it's really really incredible. So, yes, all right, let's get into it.

Speaker 1: 1:56

Oh my goodness. Hello, I'm so excited for this episode. I can't wait to dive in and learn all the things that we're learning. But first, alex, what's in your cup? I am doing a seven-day cleanse, so I have a little shake in there. It's like shakes in the first couple of days and then I can eat some food on day three. So, yeah, I'm excited about it. It's only seven days. I can do it, you can do it. You just started right. Uh, yes, today you got this. Good thing we're not recording tomorrow, cause I heard you get a little hangry.

Speaker 2: 2:34

So, um, so today I am still good.

Speaker 1: 2:36

I've done a 24 hour fast before. I am good I am good.

Speaker 1: 2:40

What is in your cup? Um, I have some collagen. I'm trying Dr Mary Claire Haver's. It's like lemonade acai collagen and it's really good. So it was like a starter packet she had with like fiber and DHA pills with, I don't know, vitamin D and K. I don't know You're supposed to like mix vitamin D and vitamin K. So this came with it because I'm like let me try it. It's really good and my boys keep wanting it, yeah, and I'm like no Is she the menopause.

Speaker 1: 3:13

She's that big menopause, doctor, right? Yes, yes, you love her you love her, I do, I do.

Speaker 2: 3:20

We need to get her on the podcast. We do. Yeah, sorry, I'm going to turn my notifications off.

Speaker 1: 3:26

Sorry, girls. Okay, that's okay. That's okay, okay, so we've got. I've known this person for probably a few months, but she has quickly become one of my favorite people in the world. I think she has more energy than like me ever and just such good ideas and just so creative and just a really really good woman mom, wife and she works her butt off with her business. So we are so excited to have you here, kira Yay.

Speaker 2: 3:52

Yay, so excited. What's in your cup?

Speaker 1: 3:55

There is a lot coming from you.

Speaker 2: 3:56

Oh, which cup I have like a hundred.

Speaker 1: 3:59

You do have like a hundred there. Oh my God, there's more. There's more, there's more, oh, my god you're like quadruple fisting, not even triple fisting. Oh okay, tell us your most interesting drink there.

Speaker 2: 4:12

Um, most interesting is I. I am trying to like do the bone brothy thing right now. I'm cold and I'm like trying to like cleanse out a little bit. We're going to the Kentucky Derby in a couple weeks and like I'm really excited.

Speaker 1: 4:24

so I'm trying to just like get a little bit.

Speaker 2: 4:24

We're going to the Kentucky Derby in a couple of weeks and like I'm really excited, so I'm trying to just like get all the liquids in and hope that does something Backing up your hydration yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:33

Before you get to drink all the liquids. Yeah, oh, that sounds like so much fun. I've never been to the Derby, even though I went to college in the South.

Speaker 2: 4:45

I know a lot of people that did, but I think that sounds fun. Are you going to wear a hat and everything? Oh, I got a hat. I have too many hats, I have too many.

Speaker 1: 4:50

That's so fun.

Speaker 2: 4:51

It's a matter of how to get all the hats there and a carry on. You know like I don't want to pack them, so I was like, am I going to wear seven hats? Did borrow one because I have a fundraiser that you're supposed to wear like a hat in May.

Speaker 1: 5:10

Oh, I got you, girl, and it's like all fun, I got it really. I got so many. Okay, I'm glad we covered that, so okay. So this woman is incredible. She calls herself a visual storyteller, right, so think about that, that is. That's someone that's really special and I love her story. She's going to tell us a little bit about it. She helps entrepreneurs with their content, with their photos, but what she also does is by visually storytelling, she helps moms preserve their photos or maybe even tell them what to do with it.

Speaker 1: 5:37

I mean, I met with her for like five minutes one time and she's telling me all these things to do with my photos because I've done nothing, and she was getting a little anxiety because of that too. So tell us your story. Her company is called Frame of Life Project on Instagram and her website is beautiful, beautiful the words you use. I love, love, love your website. It like portrayed you perfectly. But you tell us what your story is.

Speaker 2: 6:02

So sweet. Well, so this time of year I get really extra emotional because it kind of ties into my story In what was it? 2015,? We lost my mother-in-law, and the year after we lost my sister. And when we lost my mother-in-law it was like the one year anniversary of our wedding and it was right when we were starting to think about having kids and what that meant.

Speaker 2: 6:24

And very quickly my husband's family went from a family of four to just him and his dad and I found out I was pregnant and I'm like, oh my God, like this is life is all happening really fast and I got really sentimental about how do I portray what life is with our family and what generations have passed now and how do we tell those stories as we move forward.

Speaker 2: 6:46

And then I wanted to be able to document what was happening as I became a mom, as I witnessed all these changes in my body happening, as I watched my daughter come out and grow and what that meant to life and I was a photographer, so, as that was all happening, so like my natural way of processing grief and documenting what was happening and being able to see everything that was unfolding in front of me was through the lens of my camera and really utilizing that tool to show what was happening, I saw that like it was really hard as a young mom to be able to do work be a mom, have your husband, have a high power career and be the photographer, be the mom, like all of it.

Speaker 2: 7:26

It was like really hard to juggle all of the things. So I spent a lot of time just at home, really trying to focus on what mattered most, like raising the kids, but then also working with very specific clients that were connected with their stories and what they wanted to put out in the world and really helping drive that connection through their branding. So it kind of started there. I love that story.

Speaker 1: 7:49

Wow, so did you out of. I feel like visual storytelling has been part of your story since you were a photographer before life started happening at a very you know fast pace for you. Life started happening at a very you know fast pace for you. What, like, did you slowly start doing things just for yourself, or were you building things for other people and then you just took that in into your own world?

Speaker 2: 8:18

Yeah. So what I noticed was that what set me apart was that I could connect with people through the art of storytelling. So I learned that photos mean more and video content means more when it's driven with a story behind it and if there's a real purpose for what you're trying to convey. So I started showing that with branding photography through some of my business clients and really trying to understand, like, what do we want to get out of your cycling studio? What story are we trying to tell here? That's just different than strapping your shoes and ride the bike. It's just like how do we make this cooler and more relatable and get people wanting to come in? And it was a really fun way to start connecting on that side with businesses and really like developing their storylines and helping witness them grow, because they started forming connections with people because of the stories they were telling.

Speaker 2: 9:10

And then on a like on a personal side with the families I was working with. I wasn't driven to just work with one-off families chasing screaming kids in the public gardens, like on mini sessions all the time, Like I was so tired having little kid at home and I didn't have the time anymore to be able to like do all these shoots and have 60 shoots a year. It was more that I had to get specific about who I was working with and I found that the clients that stayed were the ones that wanted to tell their story more. So I wouldn't come just once a year, I would come a couple of times a year and weave their storyline throughout the images that we did. We'd do pancake making sessions and we would go to parks, but it would be a park that meant something to them and we would play with the flowers that their mom planted in the backyard. It was something more driven to connect the photos to the person's story a little bit more and it just filled me more.

Speaker 1: 10:05

So that sounds like you're working with clients more. You know you think of the photographers, like you're saying, like do the photo sessions right, that's one thing. Here's what you wear. Let's go do your Christmas card. How do you work? Whether it's um, you know someone who's working on their branding, like your cycle studio or a family. What is the process that you use? Because, thinking of some people I wouldn't necessarily know either for my business or my family, maybe my story all the time right, how do you get that out of people besides therapy?

Speaker 2: 10:39

So wine no kidding, wine is also very helpful. It gets people talking, but I think, honestly, it's a lot of just talking and listening. You know, understanding where they live, why they live there, what, what are they doing with their business? Like, um, I know you and I Alex has started working together a little bit and it's really digging into what it is you're trying to convey to people who are consuming your content and why you. Why are you unique out of everybody in the world? Like, why should they look at you and come to your website or talk to you on DMs and Instagram? Like, what is it that sets you apart? And then we focus there and like dive into that, like really upplay the things that make you unique and have fun with it and don't. It's just more about having fun instead of being so serious and like be like we have to have the light right and you can't turn off of nine like 45 degrees and just like just making sure we have fun.

Speaker 1: 11:29

It's more of that real content, right. Let that real, those real pictures, those real moments, like even with the family, like you're saying, if maybe they have a recipe that they use every Saturday morning, whatever for pancakes, you know, yeah, I love that. Ooh, I want you to do that at my house too.

Speaker 2: 11:45

You have the best pancakes.

Speaker 1: 11:47

We're going to have to cook for my photo shoot. Um, that is, that's awesome. I mean even thinking about the spin studio, like the stories and the meaning that come out of that right Would be powerful. Yeah, I do think it takes a very unique eye to be able to capture somebody's personality through a picture. I think it's I can't say, oh, anybody could take a good picture to capture so many people's personalities without even knowing them in a moment, and it just made all the difference in the world. And I think, with what you're talking about visual storytelling, that is, in essence, what you're bringing to everyone and I think that's just such a gift.

Speaker 2: 12:44

Yeah, you have to be an observer. It's like it's really kind of amazing how much you start to observe when you realize about people by just watching a little bit and know you can see the sparkle in someone's eye when you're talking to them about what actually lights them up. You know, like maybe they actually hate cooking and they don't want to do a pancake. That's the last thing that they could do, and then, let alone trying to photograph trying to flip a pancake. But you can really like learn a lot about people by their body language and what they bring forward first and talk about. And I just I think it's just so fun to just get down on like whether I'm working with kids, like I'll get down on the ground and be at their level and see life from their perspective instead of just like looking down at it. So it's like just relating with whoever's in front of your camera.

Speaker 1: 13:32

Now, how do you get if you have a client? You know a lot of midlife ladies, maybe they're, you know, a little serious, or you know it's like sometimes, like you said, what I love connecting with you on the fact of fun, right? Have you ever had a client that is just you know a little?

Speaker 2: 13:48

bit more on the serious side they have like an awesome brand and they're an awesome person.

Speaker 1: 13:52

But how do you get people to open up? Because I know doing that, um, and I know it would be for Nicole and I it's a little bit more vulnerable, right, when you're telling your story whether you're selling a Stanley or whether you have you know a, a studio.

Speaker 1: 14:08

you've worked hard on your brand, right, and that's a. It's a personal brand too, no matter what you're doing. And how do you? What is your secret, besides sort of listening, of getting people to open up to that vulnerability? Whether that is something that they share or not, it doesn't matter, right, but you have to go to a sort of a deeper place in order to have that story. So how do you, how do you make someone you know feel comfortable?

Speaker 2: 14:33

I I wonder if part of the secret sauce for me is that most of my clients aren't people that just Googled me and found me and we just meet off the street. So we have a long relationship. It's they see me posting about my everyday and how it's kind of messy and I'm doing the best I can, but this is where we're at. And then they know I'm a business owner doing the hustle. They see what's happening. So we have there's a lot of things we can relate to underlying that might not just be on the surface of photographer, client. And then it's we don't with my clients.

Speaker 2: 15:05

It's never just one interaction, it's there's lots of different buildup points. It's that initial like I would love a photo shoot and it's like well, tell me about it. What are you looking for? What do you need these images for? Or is it just to have one picture on your LinkedIn bio? Or is it to tell a full story for all of your freebies and like your whole brand? You know like it can be very different and the amount of depth you need to go like if it's just a headshot, I'm not going to spend a million hours with somebody like trying to know them like I can make them yeah that's, that's a little bit easier I.

Speaker 1: 15:38

Yeah, that's a that's a little bit easier. I mean you could, you could like give someone a glass of wine or a skinny mug or something, maybe. Yeah, that'd be fine.

Speaker 2: 15:50

Maybe we need to do that.

Speaker 1: 15:57

Wait, I'm in. I mean I don to like set up something with mimosas and I. I just I kept drinking them because I wanted to relax and uh, I mean I think that was the most relaxed photo shoot I ever did.

Speaker 2: 16:11

But yeah, was it good pictures, nicole? Was it good? I know I'm curious, was it good content?

Speaker 1: 16:16

uh, yeah, it was. Yeah, I always feel like my first photo shoots go well, and then the second one. I don't know if I'm just like I just I don't know. I feel like I'm just better the first time and then the second time I maybe I'm not as prepared you always look good. Our photo shoot was fun together. We did one in Colorado and that was fun. It was was long.

Speaker 2: 16:39

It's a long day.

Speaker 1: 16:40

I didn't realize when I did a first photo shoot, it was my best friend that took the pictures for my cookbook and it was, I think it was only a couple hours, but I was like exhausted. I'm like, oh my God, I don't think I can smile anymore.

Speaker 2: 16:51

But smiling hurts your cheek.

Speaker 1: 16:56

It hurts. Now, do you ever like because you do this for so many other people, I feel like we're normally a bad client to ourselves, right? Like? Doctors are the worst patients. You know that type of thing. Do you? Do you ever get in front of the camera and how do you? How do you? Are you just constantly recording and taking pictures of your kiddos? Like, do you ever, now that you have a full fledged business, right, and you have two little kids, ps, and your husband travels a lot for his job, right? Like you're solo parenting a lot, do you like tell us how you do it within your family?

Speaker 2: 17:31

Well, I do try to get in the picture. I don't love it like being in the picture, you know but I want to show up for my kids and I, like my daughter, said recently like she was looking at videos and I got so annoying because she's like mommy, where are you?

Speaker 1: 17:45

I'm like.

Speaker 2: 17:46

I'm talking to you and I'm taking the video.

Speaker 2: 17:48

Like I'm in it, I'm so in it, but they don't see it. And when she said that to me, it made it like, so, like this gut punch of like, I have to make it a priority every year to be in at least one shoot with my kids and, like this year, our daycare did like a fundraiser and I was like, well, 50 bucks, it could be terrible, it's going to be 5 PM, they're going to be melting, I don't care, we're going to try it. And they came out to be like the best pictures and it was a five minute shoot. I was like, just try it, see what happens if you get one picture. It's great, and I think it was really worth doing that, you know, and it just it was a good reminder of like, even if my husband wasn't even in them, I was like I'm sorry, we're gonna have to do it again. You will do it again.

Speaker 1: 18:30

I love this evolution of taking more video too. John just said to me the other day on our vacation was like why do you take so much video? Are you going to post it? And I'm like, no, I take a lot that I don't post. I do post a lot of videos.

Speaker 1: 18:45

But I was like I had one of those moments recently where my dad passed away suddenly 11 years ago and my son, he's like writing some rap music and he wanted a video of my dad for his video and literally I could not find one because my phone only goes back so far. I had to look up on the camcorder. It was like basically our wedding video, you know. But I was just like I really I think I love the pictures. I love, love, love those. But I love this like video just of us sitting at the table or on vacation, or you know, I think I think that is taking up a lot of capacity on my phone. But, um, I think it's really special to have because I don't have that. So on my vacation, like I was trying to take videos of my mom or you know, I would pretend I was taking a picture of the boys and my mom and I'd be like taking a video, so that's good.

Speaker 2: 19:37

I mean, that's my biggest trick with getting pictures of my kids is I just take video and then I'll screenshot it or hit the tap, like you can tap on your phone if it's an iPhone, and like take a picture while you're recording the video and that way like I don't miss it.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Wait, what do you mean? You're taking a video like we do a video on our iPhone.

Speaker 2: 19:59

You do a video on your iPhone and you start a video on your iphone and you start recording. There's this like little button right there, like the white button. You just hit that and you like get a photo while you're doing it, so get out, yeah and it won't start your video it won't, no, and it doesn't even make a sound, it doesn't even make like a like it used to do that.

Speaker 2: 20:17

I think that's a good idea, especially for kiddos, to capture them right in that one second. You take a video and then do that screen capture or do live photos. That's also what I've been doing a lot, as my kids are, like, still in that crazy age. Yes, is the live photos catches like I think it's two seconds before and after the photo, so it gives you a spread that you can pick the main photo out of.

Speaker 1: 20:57

Wait, if this works, I just did it, you guys.

Speaker 2: 21:00

Oh my gosh. Yeah, if this works, I just did it you guys?

Speaker 1: 21:03

Oh my gosh, it does work, but it's funny Cause I took like 10 pictures because it didn't click Right. I was like wait.

Speaker 2: 21:08

I don't think it got it. I don't think it got oh okay, okay.

Speaker 1: 21:11

So that is like a major takeaway, wow.

Speaker 2: 21:14

Yeah, but don't get too excited when you're tapping it, cause you'll shake your video.

Speaker 1: 21:19

Oh, yes, I can see myself getting very excited yeah, I got it, I got it so are there certain settings that you have on your, on your phone, um to get like the best picture, or do you have like um? What's it called like a, not a filter, like a preset?

Speaker 2: 21:38

yeah, so I mean there the. I think those are two separate questions.

Speaker 1: 21:45

We can have like an hour long lesson with you, about, about tip sheet. Do you have a download?

Speaker 2: 21:52

We should make one. I can make one for you guys. Actually, I think that'd be a fun takeaway, cause there's some, there's some settings that I like to go in and do, and let's actually do that for you guys. Like I'll go through and like make a little um takeaway of how to do it. I don't know what I did with my phone.

Speaker 1: 22:09

Oh, here it is Well, and now people don't want you. I just took a picture of someone on the beach, like of a couple, but they were like younger than us guys. But they're like don don't, don't zoom in, we can do the zoom in, right like it was. Yeah, I used to always want to zoom in, but now people do their own editing, I guess I don't know.

Speaker 2: 22:27

Oh, they do a crop zoom after well. Sometimes the zoom lines will make it like not let it's more grainy, so like they probably wanted to keep it on their own. Um, but this is what you can do Like are we on iPhones here, friends? Yes, yes, good Cause.

Speaker 1: 22:40

I'm not good If you have an Android, don't listen. You have to press stop.

Speaker 2: 22:46

I know my sister-in-law has one and one of my best friends has one.

Speaker 1: 22:49

It's annoying, oh my.

Speaker 2: 22:51

God, it's probably you can do this. Okay, go to like. Scroll down on your screen so you can get that search bar that pops up at the bottom.

Speaker 1: 23:06

like, like go on your main screen like swipe down. Oh yeah, you get this search bar.

Speaker 2: 23:08

Hang on, like I'm searching for an app too, yeah, and like you can like write settings down here, like right, like this. So like you're searching for an app type in settings okay, or just go to settings.

Speaker 1: 23:18

Yeah, we could do.

Speaker 2: 23:20

Mine has too many apps on my screen so I don't want to switch to it. Okay, and then in settings on that top search panel type in camera, oh I didn't even know there was a search engine there. Yeah, then go to the camera button. There's like an actual camera. It like shows your camera thing, this one, oh, okay, this is real compelling content. Yes, everybody wants to know. Okay, so for people that are watching.

Speaker 1: 23:48

It's like it looks. It looks like the camera lens, right?

Speaker 2: 23:52

yeah, the actual camera app that you're gonna get, okay, okay so this one, we're gonna do some setting change, like we're gonna adjust some settings. So, um, I'm gonna tell you what I like to do, just for me personally. So I like to record my videos, um at 1080p and 60 seconds, 60 fps, which is frames per second. I don't know what setting are you guys on on that top one?

Speaker 1: 24:13

I was at 4k at 60 fps. Okay, what does that, which is fine, it's fine.

Speaker 2: 24:18

They're gonna be super large files, um, that can appear in 4k, when your tvs can do 4k, which we can't do quite yet. So it'll be great. But, like, do we really need it? So I just shoot in 10k or 1080p because it's it's very um compatible with everywhere. Okay, so, um, 60 frames per second is cool because it just if you slowed it, if you do like a slow-mo from it, it'll make it smooth. That's the only reason you want to do that, um. And then I just have record slow-mo at 120 frames per second, the 1080p at 120.

Speaker 1: 24:51

I had 240.

Speaker 2: 24:54

Oh, that's going to be really slow. I mean it's going to be fine, it's going to be all just really creamy and the bigger files, I think, because it's like that's how many I don't do slow-mo a lot, I never do slow-mo.

Speaker 1: 25:03

I'll do it for a reel. You can slow it down, but I won't ever do slow-mo, so that's where I do slow-mo too.

Speaker 2: 25:08

So that's why I'm like I'm just gonna like not have it accidentally record and take up all that space, like because I feel like it's gonna be like really pretty okay.

Speaker 1: 25:17

So let's just so we've got record video at 1080p at 30 frames per second.

Speaker 2: 25:25

And then 60 frames, oh, 60. Just kidding, and then I'll make a cheat sheet.

Speaker 1: 25:29

Slow-mo is 1080p at 120 frames per second. Okay, I got the first two Yay.

Speaker 2: 25:36

Okay Now, cinematic I have at 30 frames per second. That's. That's going to just be be raw out of the camera. It's just going to make it already slower. So what is yours at? Cinematic-wise, 1080p at 30. Okay, yeah, that's where I'm at.

Speaker 2: 25:51

So the most important one I want to go to is the formats here. It's the next one, and you'll see that there's high efficiency and most compatible. Do you see that? Yeah, where did you go into that Formats? It's right after the record and you'll see that there's high efficiency and most compatible. Do you see that? Where did you go into that? The formats? It's right after the record.

Speaker 2: 26:04

Okay, so when you're in there, I like to shoot in most compatible. So I don't know if any of you guys have made albums recently. I don't think you have. No, I don't know why, but if you've gone in and sent a photo from your phone to any of the major album makers, like Chatbooks or Mpix or Shutterfly or anything, if you send something that's been recorded as a high-efficiency file, it's going to be saving your pictures as heic, which is like not JPEG, it's not readable by many of these manufacturers. Yet I think in time that's going to change, so it'll probably be fine, but I'd rather have it one less step, so I just do most compatible and it saves everything as JPEG and it's just ready to go and you don't have to do an additional conversion yeah, I've been doing the conversion on my desktop now.

Speaker 2: 26:58

Yeah, it's like one extra step so you can do photo in different modes. I don't even go there and I'm not even I'm not shooting on raw. You could, if you are like doing this crazy landscape that you want to, like print the size of your wall like you might want to shoot in raw. That's going to be a huge file but for most people you really don't need that. Like the quality, like the highest you're printing is 8x10, maybe 11x14. Like I don't think it's necessary to shoot in RAW and those are really like the main settings I mess with, so I won't like bore this whole episode. Okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 27:32

But I can give a little guide for you guys that we can just do the quick settings to change. That will make it a lot easier to have your photos accessible when you need them. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 27:41

Oh, that's awesome. I think that's so helpful.

Speaker 2: 27:44

And then I don't remember your other question, it was different oh, the editing, like what you're doing to edit a photo, yeah yeah. So typically I don't edit unless like it needs it, like cause a lot of times these the new iPhones especially, especially, are balancing the images pretty well. But anytime I do want to edit it, I would go in and hit the edit button and I like to do adjust and I hit that magic wand thing. Okay, I don't know if it's going to show because I'm a little blurry.

Speaker 1: 28:12

What does that do? What does that mean?

Speaker 2: 28:14

I will do that too. It's auto, so it's going to adjust all the settings just a little bit and then you can like slide it up or down if you like it. Like it'll usually change the skin tones the most like it makes like the face a little lighter, which is always good. But see how it's like messing the background up a little bit, yeah, so I'll just adjust it slightly and I always um will play with highlights, because that's like the clouds and are like light that's behind you or any places that like get no detail in it.

Speaker 2: 28:42

I'll usually like bring the highlights down a little bit and up the contrast. So the highlight you'll see it when you scroll. It'll tell you which one's highlights, like this little circley guy. And then contrast I'll often, but that magic wand already kind of does that. So it's a good quick one to hit and then you can adjust from there. But those are the main things I do, even when I edit my client sessions. Those are the three things I really play with. It's exposure, contrast and highlights. So it's a good way to if those are the ones you want to really share without swiping up the filters on Instagram, it's a good way to do that.

Speaker 1: 29:19

I like that. I have some friends that think they're like professional editors and I think they use all those things and I'm like here's a photo, you edit it, let's, let's crop our arm off, maybe I don't know, or or you know, um, but that's so funny. I didn't think I like the, I like that tip of just the highlighter and the contrast, because I'll try to play with them all and I'm like, ok, I'm not a photographer like I don't even you can tell when people do it.

Speaker 1: 29:48

like you know, now there are so many filters, especially on social media. I just learned that you could do a filter on your stories and I did not know that, so I think I told you that, yeah, changing, did not know that, so I think I told you that, yeah, it's changing every day. Oh, I could look a little bit more glamorous? Uh, that would be nice, a little less sleep deprived. But then when people see me they'll be like who is that? Alex?

Speaker 1: 30:12

pass out a filter, yeah walking around with like a like a filter stick, like a popsicle no selfie sticks.

Speaker 2: 30:22

That's a good invention. It is, guys, the only other tip I have that I think would be really helpful from the series of like us talking about getting in the picture more. I love using the timer, like, do you guys?

Speaker 1: 30:32

ever use the timer on your phone, always, yes.

Speaker 2: 30:39

That is like awesome way to get in pictures with your whole family, with everyone. The 10 second timer gives you enough of a countdown to run and jump in the shot. You can set it with your your Apple watch to go off, so like you don't have to do the run anymore. That's kind of fun.

Speaker 1: 30:50

So if you have, an Apple watch.

Speaker 2: 30:54

I got a reel on this one.

Speaker 1: 30:57

I'll link that one in our guide. I told her that I was like these tips are like genius, like just three tips. I love you know. I love the. I love the timer. I use that all the time.

Speaker 2: 31:07

It's so helpful and you just go through and you can pick out which one, which key photo, is the best, and then you can turn it into video and loop and bounce it. You can do all the things you want with it. So there's there's ways like to turn it, because it'll take 10 pictures really fast and you can turn it into a little video.

Speaker 1: 31:24

I'm like girl at Orange. It's lucky we know how to do a reel. I mean that took a while. That took a while to figure out. We're still figuring it out, that's the thing about midlife, right, you're just always figuring it out, right.

Speaker 2: 31:41

I don't know when you're not, and then it changes as soon as you do. As soon as you got to figure it out, it's kind of like parenting.

Speaker 1: 31:47

Just when you think you got to phase down, you're like wait, wait, come back. Right, my kids are always telling me what to do with the photos and all this stuff, and they're like just give me your phone. I'm like no cause you're going to mess it up. I know exactly how to do it.

Speaker 1: 32:01

Now what about those midlife ladies like us that literally haven't done anything with their photos for the past 15 years? Um, besides, I do have a bag upstairs. I think I spent $500 when Baker was five and bought all these printed photos, and they're still sitting there. That's great. My goal was to so what about the people like us? Like literally? I think this wears on me. Like every year, I'm like I'm going to do the photos. I'm going to do the photos, Like what?

Speaker 1: 32:28

do we do if we've got camcorders with stuff. I have hard drives with photos. I have them on my iPhone Like someone. I'm sure Nicole is more organized than me with this situation. Yeah, not really Okay, so we're in the same boat.

Speaker 1: 32:42

No, we're in the same boat Like mine are in boxes. Like I personally like to have a picture in my hand and I especially thought that it was helpful. We lost our mom. I lost my mother-in-law a couple of years ago and I just noticed that the first thing that everybody did is they went to the photo album. I, for me, personally, I want to look at a picture in an album and flip it, versus looking at it through a phone. So I do print off pictures, but they're just not organized very well. Um, but for my business, I want them easily accessible on either a hard drive or in an album in my in my phone. So mine are just all over the place that's okay.

Speaker 2: 33:28

It means you have them and that there's something you can do with it, like, because some people don't even take the pictures and have them, but it's so, I think, what the key that I've walked away with.

Speaker 2: 33:38

So I spent 2020 to like just up to this year really helping families manage their photo collections, like while we were all stuck inside and trying to figure out ways to do something with their collections, and what I noticed most is that if we get so focused on doing it perfect and getting everything just right like getting every single one of your photos in one specific place backed up the same way and then moving forward from that like getting every single one of your photos in one specific place backed up the same way, and then moving forward from that, like you can't actually do it perfect, because taking photos and having a photo collection is a cycle and it always is going to continue to get added to and it's something that you need to go back and refresh as you go, especially in the digital world.

Speaker 2: 34:17

So anything we have on the cloud or on hard drives hard drives are only designed to last about five years now and I've started to. I just had this happen in my business, like one of my old cloud services decided to not hold cloud photos anymore. So all of my client galleries from 10 years ago are now not accessible on the cloud, so they just went away and luckily I have them on backup hard drives. But what I noticed is luckily I have them on backup hard drives.

Speaker 1: 34:40

But what I?

Speaker 2: 34:40

noticed is like some of them are running a little slower and some don't even turn on and you think that they're safe because you put them on a cloud or you put them on a hard drive. It's just really important to have them in multiple different places and so, through, the bottom line of it all is that, like, what was most important was, instead of having every single photo ever in one place, it's having those ones that are the most important. So I like people to focus on the big moments that matter to them, or like the things that light them up about their kids that they don't want to forget, like if you're. It doesn't have to be just a birthday or a major milestone celebration. It could be just how tiny your kids hands, like how big a rock looks in your kid's tiny hands. You know it could be something like that. That's an MVP. But you can focus on making sure you have those saved and I have them saved by year. Like I'll just go in and just be like these are my favorites of my MVPs of 2022 and my MVPs of 2024. And I make sure that those are the first things that are backed up, and then you just kind of go backwards.

Speaker 2: 35:44

I like look at different milestones that are coming up as a great time to go and find those specific pictures. Like we're coming up on our 10 year wedding anniversary at the end of the week and now would be a great time for me to go through and like pick one photo every year, that's it. Like just give myself that one task of getting 10 photos, like not having to get a million, but like search my husband's face. Like I don't have as many pictures of him on here, but like you can go in. Like I use google to back up my photos just because I like their ai so much.

Speaker 2: 36:27

Um, they have. I find the just the best version of facial recognition, identifying, identifying objects or locations. Like you can type in frog on google and it'll pull up a picture of like a pond. In a time there was a frog, like if you took a picture of it. So you can get really creative of different keywords to search to find the images that you're looking for. So if it's not popping up that one time you were at a restaurant I don't know you could look up a certain thing.

Speaker 1: 36:54

Do you work with people just to teach them this, or yeah?

Speaker 2: 36:59

So offer one on one consultations to help people identify what's most important and go through a system to be able to find their photos, and I also have a photo tracker that I'm happy to share too. It's one of the most downloaded items I have on my website right now. It's a place that I've learned to start using this, because you start to quickly lose track of where everything is, especially if you have them printed. They're in your mom's basement or they're up in the attic or they're somewhere that they shouldn't be. Like like side note, like things should not be in places where the temperature isn't controlled.

Speaker 2: 37:32

So attics are often places where it can get too hot or too cold or moisture can get in and it can damage your pictures if they're not protected. Or garages those are like the top two places to just instantly get them out. Basements you just don't want them on the floor. As long as, like it's a finished basement, it's okay, but it's just important to just know where your photos are, and this photo tracker helps you, just as you're going through these MVP moments, to be like oh, that trip to Destin is on this hard drive, it's on that one. Here it is, and I did back it up and you can check a box and be like it's backed up on Google, so you know it's in two places and you can kind of give yourself this running list of what you need to do as you're going. So it's not so overwhelming when you have the two seconds to work on it.

Speaker 1: 38:19

Well, it's almost like it has to become a habit too. When I was on the plane, I had no wifi and I was going through my pictures and it, like you said, I wanted to hear about that little hand. I found all these pictures and videos of when, like, the kids were like five and under and was like, oh my gosh, they grow so quickly, like even within a year. I was finding a picture of my middle son from a year ago and he looks so different. Um, so it's almost like do you recommend to your clients going through it? Whatever works for them? Maybe it's like a monthly basis, it's something you do every month, or when you come back from vacation, or your milestones, or you know, because you have to. If I mean, for Nicole and I to go back 15 years, it's going to be a big undertaking. I don't want to have to do this 30 more years or I won't even know.

Speaker 1: 39:01

I remember thinking when we first had this is so silly when we first had digital phones and I printed all those pictures of Baker when he was five and I was like I mean, I'm not going to need those photos. Well, what are we? How are we going to send people digital photos, like I had no clue, like that. That would really be something like I'd be sending his kindergarten picture for the yearbook. I thought we'd still have to print them. So I was like I'm on top of this. So I think, like I'm going to put this on my list to do every first of the month. I think I'm going to do that.

Speaker 2: 39:34

It's a great way to start trying.

Speaker 1: 39:36

Oh, you will yes.

Speaker 2: 39:38

Especially if you're in a line. I love I mean, I think we're going to be traveling a little more, but I love when you're on a plane because I feel like that's the most uninterrupted time to go through and do it. No-transcript a way of me getting off of Instagram in the middle of the night. So instead of, like, laying down in my bed the second, I could go to sleep and, grabbing my phone and scrolling Instagram, I would go through my camera roll and look at what pictures I took that day and I would, as I would go through, I would just put a heart on each one that I loved, like, and then I would zoom out and all the ones that didn't have a heart I would click on and delete and they would be gone.

Speaker 2: 40:32

So what would happen was all that was left was just the things that lit me up in my camera roll and you would just really fast see, like, only every time you open it up, it's just the good ones and it is was a fast way to start getting a little bit of control over that chaos of all the like, screenshots and the blurry photos and the things that don't matter that are getting backed up to the cloud and story like wasting all your storage everywhere. Like helps to start tackling that a little bit and it has the side benefit of like showing you how much good is in your world that you might not have really realized when you just were snapping a quick picture. So it's a new way to reframe it a little bit.

Speaker 1: 41:10

I love that for new moms, for older moms, for everything. I like that Cause. That's like I was going back to six years ago and I was finding that daily delight. Ooh, I like that because that's like I was going back to six years ago and I was finding that daily delight. Oh, I like that and I realized the best is when your kids would take our phones when they were little. Literally there was 50 pictures of the same thing.

Speaker 1: 41:30

I'm like oh my gosh boys, I'm going to kill you. Or like it was when the phones first came out, or they were doing like they're doing TikTok, so I don't even know what was on my phone. I'm like, wow, this is before they had phones, it's really, really.

Speaker 2: 41:43

Maybe I should go through my kids' phones. We should go through our boys' phones to call oh, look out, see everything that's on my teen phone, I'll tell them.

Speaker 1: 41:54

They can do it they can have their own daily delights. You know they can do it. They can have all your daily delights. You know I like that because photos make you. Photos can make you happy. And I just was, I just was reading something that was like, also don't wait, like especially we talk about our parents getting older and stuff Don't wait for something. It's like those moments when you have to go find those photos, like, don't wait till a moment when someone passes, or you know. So I keep a lot of albums in my phone. That's what I'm trying to do, like I have ones of Alex and I or this or that, you know whatever, cooking different things. So I'm trying to do the albums in my Google phone.

Speaker 2: 42:32

And then you have this in your Google photos.

Speaker 1: 42:36

Google, no, my phone. Oh sorry, my phone, my iPhone.

Speaker 2: 42:38

Yeah, I was like I thought you had an iPhone.

Speaker 1: 42:42

That's a little high tech for me.

Speaker 2: 42:48

No, I think that that's a helpful way to find them really fast when you need them. And it's not being afraid, I remind myself, and it sounds like we've all experienced a loss that's really unexpected, that really changes the perspective of you with every time that you're with people, like it's making sure that you take the picture, even if you're like didn't do your hair and the kids are screaming, and that you're just hold them in just to get a shot, like take the picture or just get in it yourself with the person, and like that's okay, like there might be a next time which would be great, you know, but if there's not, at least you have these moments together and like you're not being shy to share the love that you have with the person that you're with.

Speaker 1: 43:26

Right, and when you look back, you'll look at it with a different lens, cause I look at pictures of like when my first and the newborn pictures and I was just so tired and a lot of the pictures. I'm like trying to get my head out of the picture, but I'm like hi, like it was just a season. I mean, you know you. Just you don't realize it until after the fact. But, yeah, get in the picture. Yeah, oh, I love this. So where can um, where can our listeners find you? Give us all the details. You can find me over on.

Speaker 2: 43:53

Instagram. I love hanging out there as much as when my daily delights are done. No, I'm not going to. I've definitely fallen off the bandwagon on those, but I'll try. But Instagram you can get me in my DMs over on it's frameoflifeproject on Instagram and then my website is frameoflifeco and I would. I'd love to connect with your listeners because these are all awesome.

Speaker 1: 44:24

So you do. You do different things for business owners, right? You can do content creation for them monthly or seasonally, and then also for, for you know, just moms or whoever who want to organize their photos. She has the tracker and she can do one-on-one sessions or help you sort of eliminate the overwhelm of, like us, like 15 years of photos that we don't know what we're going to do with, and also staying with the times and realizing how to store these photos, right. I think that's important, especially a lot of midlife moms. This is where I saw this was don't wait for your child's graduation from high school to look at all the photos, right? So, like a lot of us have kids that are freshmen in high school, I'm not going to put this off, maybe that's a little project.

Speaker 1: 45:06

Like right, I'll find all these pictures of Baker and organize that first. Like take bite-sized things to do it, but don't wait until senior year, because then we're going to be scrambling and probably send pictures just to do it Right Instead of enjoying it. Right so? And crying your way through it.

Speaker 2: 45:23

Yeah, I know, I, I, I. I had to get off after two months, you guys, of the pictures from 2016,.

Speaker 1: 45:26

Because I was like oh, I was sitting next on the airplane to my big kids and I'm like this is like. I was like wanting to be like a grandma. I was like, okay, this has to be done.

Speaker 1: 45:36

I'm done these kids are so cute, I just want them for like one day, you know, just one day, and then give them that Okay. So it is time for unsolicited advice. There is, there's so much goodness in this and the photos you're really like inspiring me and motivating me to do a lot of things. So, nicole, what time is it? It's my favorite time. It is unsolicited advice time. What, nicole? What would be your unsolicited advice? I think for me personally, the easiest thing that I started with and I think this is a good starting point for people I you could correct me here, but starting an album. So just maybe start a couple of albums. Um, like, maybe, if you have kids, just start with like your oldest and kind of look in the search button, get the facial recognition and just start putting things in there. And then, as you build, you know it'll just become a little bit more. What's the word I'm looking for? Intentional.

Speaker 2: 46:49

Yes, not intentional routine. Both are great.

Speaker 1: 46:51

Like you do it without thinking whatever that word is yeah, routine, yes, okay, habitual.

Speaker 2: 46:57

I don't know, maybe more of a habit.

Speaker 1: 46:59

Yes, Okay, how about you, Alex? What's your unsolicited advice? I have no advice for storing pictures or anything like that, but I would say my advice would be take the photo, take the photo right. And take the video of, even if it's with your friends, even if it's this, and just tell them you won't post it anywhere, and especially your kids, but just to have that, I think. I think just the video.

Speaker 1: 47:24

I just love seeing people's expressions and little kids voices or this or that, like you can't replace that Right you just can't, and I think if you're just, if you're feeling like you know a happy time, just just do it, Even if you see something like I'll take videos of some scenery that I like, just like things like rainbows or, you know, the ocean, things like that Like just doesn't always have to be people in it, Just things that really bring you joy and make you happy. Or food I do a lot of food, so I think take the photo would be mine. Take the video, take the photo.

Speaker 2: 47:58

Don't miss an opportunity so no, and I think once you get that photo, like, enjoy the moment. You know, don't focus on getting another angle of the same photo so much. Just get it and get out and enjoy that time that you have.

Speaker 1: 48:11

Don't have to be perfect, right, like it doesn't have to be perfect, like just you'll remember that moment. I love that, okay. So if you had to give us one advice for these midlife ladies, what would be yours?

Speaker 2: 48:22

God, I know Help us all.

Speaker 1: 48:23

There's so many. Help us all. I know it's like there's so many.

Speaker 2: 48:26

Help us all. I think what's making me still anxious is that we haven't talked about backup, and I want people to back up their photos Because we might not have time right now to go get them, but like if your phone drops in or you delete everything, like on iCloud, like if you delete a photo off of your camera, roll it, deletes it off the cloud and it's gone. So like you don't have a backup if you haven't added Google Photos or Amazon Photos, or if you're not connecting your phone to your computer and getting them on an external hard drive. So that would be my one. These one solicited advice for people is like get a backup, use backup, use protection.

Speaker 1: 49:03

And you have a good suggestion. I'm just looking for it in my office. I bought that. Oh, I bought this drive that you said to buy.

Speaker 2: 49:10

Yahoo, this one. I love these things. The orange ones, right? Yes, I love that one. They're fantastic and I love that one. They're fantastic and they just like. I have like seven of them, maybe more, right now. I'm a crazy hoarder, but I just I witnessed it this month Like I've needed to go to multiple of my drives to get pictures from 10 years ago for clients, and thank God I had it, because they're just evaporated and they're important. You've taken these photos for a reason, so back up, back up ladies, back it up, wrap it important.

Speaker 2: 49:39

You've taken these photos for a reason, so back up, back up, back it up, wrap it up, back it up, wrap it up, back it up.

Speaker 1: 49:44

Well, thank you for coming. This was so awesome, and I know you have more tips, so visit her Instagram message. She'll answer you right back. It's really her too. Um, it's really, it's really her. So, all right, ladies, we'll see you soon. Bye, thanks, kira. Bye, guys, and that's a wrap for today's episode of Don't Call Me Midlife. We hope you had as much fun as we did. Absolutely. Your support means the world to us. If you're just waiting in the carpool line, don't forget to follow the show, and if you're feeling extra spicy today, leave us a rating and review Before we part ways. We've got a special invitation for you Join our newsletter to stay in the loop with all things midlife, magic, bonus content and more. Head on over to the show notes for how to sign up. We can't wait to keep the conversation going. And, of course, remember, in the whirlwind of life and motherhood, don't forget to fill up your own cup first. You're extraordinary and your journey is worth every moment. Until next time, cheers.