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Reinventing Your Photography Business at Any Age with Natasha Sewell

Play It Brave Podcast

Release Date: 07/24/2025

How I Lead My Clients Through a Major Transformation show art How I Lead My Clients Through a Major Transformation

Play It Brave Podcast

You can know exactly why you do something and still keep doing it. You can know where the pattern came from. You can have journaled about it, talked about it, analyzed it, named it—and then Tuesday comes around and there you are, doing the thing again. Because understanding a pattern and changing a pattern are two different skills. In this episode, I'm taking you inside the work I've fallen completely in love with: how I lead a client through a major Breakthrough. Not a quick mindset shift. Not another affirmation pasted over something you don't actually believe. The deeper work of finding...

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You’re Not Lazy: Why You Can’t Jump from Stuck to Motivated show art You’re Not Lazy: Why You Can’t Jump from Stuck to Motivated

Play It Brave Podcast

If you’ve ever tried to force  yourself out of procrastination, you know how well that works. You can know exactly what to do. You can have the time. You can want the result so badly it aches — and still find yourself answering emails, returning something to Nordstrom, or deciding the junk drawer has to be dealt with right now. That isn’t laziness. Laziness would be doing nothing, and you are doing a great deal. You’re just not doing the one thing that matters. Which means the problem was never your character. It’s the state you’re in. In this first Rewire Friday, D’Arcy...

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Starting Over at 48: I Fired My Team, Ended My Biggest Love, and Flew to India show art Starting Over at 48: I Fired My Team, Ended My Biggest Love, and Flew to India

Play It Brave Podcast

For the first time, the whole story of the last two years — told from the other side. In this episode: The heroine’s journey — the map: the hero comes home with the treasure; the heroine realizes she is the treasure, and she is the home The launch that cracked it open: 21 yeses where 90 used to say yes — and the sentence that took over December 2024: the call that was harder than the breakup — and why it turned out to be the first brave decision of the rebirth THE VALUES AUDIT — five signs your season is a values change, not a collapse: (1) the wins land flat, (2) you’re...

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Content Is Dead: Why the Creator Economy Is Over — and the Artist Economy Is Next show art Content Is Dead: Why the Creator Economy Is Over — and the Artist Economy Is Next

Play It Brave Podcast

Most photographers aren’t studying photography anymore — they’re studying Instagram. In this solo episode, D’Arcy confesses to a decade of studying the wrong things — algorithms, funnels, hooks — and makes the case for what comes after the creator economy: the artist economy. It starts with Gene Kelly, soaked to the skin and swinging off a lamppost, and the strange grief of watching real devotion. Inside: The sentence the whole episode is built on — you cannot consistently photograph what you refuse to cultivate within yourself. How apprenticeship became consumption  The 4...

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The 3 Love Blocks Keeping High-Achieving Women Single with Sanaiyah Gurnamal show art The 3 Love Blocks Keeping High-Achieving Women Single with Sanaiyah Gurnamal

Play It Brave Podcast

Success came easy. Love didn't. If you've built the business, the body of work, the beautiful life — and love is still the one thing that won't land — this conversation was recorded for you. D'Arcy sits down with self-love and relationship expert Sanaiyah Gurnamal — two-time TEDx speaker and host of Project Loving Myself (a Spotify Top 50 podcast with 1M+ downloads) — to name the three love blocks that keep high-achieving women single or stuck: the People Pleaser, the Commitment-Phobe, and the Runaway Bride. In this episode: why women who fight for everything never learn to receive...

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Letting the Good In: How to Stop Pushing Away the Things You Actually Want show art Letting the Good In: How to Stop Pushing Away the Things You Actually Want

Play It Brave Podcast

What if the biggest thing standing between you and the life you want isn't a lack of opportunity, talent, or strategy, but your ability to receive? In this episode, I'm exploring a question that has fascinated me for years, both in my own life and in my work with clients: Why do we struggle to receive the very things we say we want most? Love, support, visibility, money, rest, belonging. So often, when those things finally arrive, something inside us pushes them away. I share personal stories, powerful insights from my Receiving Map sessions, and lessons from neuroscience and consciousness...

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From Burnout to Resonance – Building an Elevated Brand from the Inside Out: Live Coaching Call with Kristen Marie show art From Burnout to Resonance – Building an Elevated Brand from the Inside Out: Live Coaching Call with Kristen Marie

Play It Brave Podcast

What does it actually look like to evolve from a successful photographer into a fully embodied luxury brand? In this deeply personal episode of the Play It Brave podcast, I’m taking you behind the scenes with my client and dear friend, Kristen Marie, as she walks through a massive identity shift, creative rebirth, and business rebrand. Kristen has been photographing weddings and adventure elopements for over eight years, and after years of success in the elopement world, her body finally told her something had to change. Together, we talk openly about burnout, redefining success, and the...

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How I Prep to Shoot a 4-Day Wedding (and Tell the Actual Story) show art How I Prep to Shoot a 4-Day Wedding (and Tell the Actual Story)

Play It Brave Podcast

In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on how I approach photographing a high-level, multi-day destination wedding—from the mindset I bring, to the creative direction, to the very real pressure behind the glamour. After more than two decades in this industry, I don’t just show up and “document” a wedding. I direct it. I shape it. I craft it into a visual story that feels cinematic, intentional, and deeply personal to the couple. If you’ve ever wondered how to elevate your work from delivering a gallery to creating a story that stops people in their tracks, this episode is...

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The Truth About Manifestation and Reclaiming Your Intuition show art The Truth About Manifestation and Reclaiming Your Intuition

Play It Brave Podcast

On this episode of the Play It Brave podcast, I’m taking a conversation I started on Instagram and going deeper into something I care deeply about: manifestation, intuition, and personal power. Because here’s the truth, I don’t believe you when you say you don’t know who you are or what you want. I say that with love. What I’ve found, both in my own life and in working with so many of you, is that “not knowing” is often a protection mechanism. It’s a way we stay safe from the courage, change, and disruption that comes with actually claiming what we want. So today, I’m...

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Stepping Into a New Era show art Stepping Into a New Era

Play It Brave Podcast

This episode feels different, and that’s because I am different. This is the first episode I’m recording on the other side of a deep personal and professional transformation. I’ve let go of old identities, old offers, old stories, and I’m stepping into a new era of my life and business. If you’re at a crossroads right now, if you feel like you’ve outgrown something but are scared to let it go, this conversation is for you. We’re talking about identity shifts, entrepreneurship in the age of AI, and what it really looks like to honor your evolution instead of clinging to what used...

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Today on the Play It Brave podcast, I’m joined by the ever-inspiring Natasha Sewell—a photographer, educator, and expert in creating heartfelt client experiences. Natasha started her photography business at 41, and if you’ve ever thought you were “too late” to pivot or start something new, you need to hear this story.

We talk about making bold moves at any age—whether you’re transitioning from studio to lifestyle sessions, from family photography to branding, or just feeling creatively stuck and needing a reset. Natasha shares how she built a successful newborn photography business, got bored, and decided to pivot toward something that lit her up: documenting motherhood in a way that feels honest, emotional, and artful.

We also go deep on client experience—the real kind. Not just prep guides and gifts (though those are great!), but the full journey: from the first click on your website to long after the gallery is delivered. Natasha breaks down how she uses automated emails, product videos, intentional communication, and smart follow-up to create a seamless experience that serves her clients—and sells more albums without pressure.

This episode is part pep talk, part business masterclass, and packed with takeaways for photographers who want to create more meaning (and money) in their work.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • Starting a business at 41 and why age is actually a gift

  • Making intentional pivots when your creativity is on life support

  • Personal projects that inspire, including black & white film and motion blur

  • How lifestyle sessions unlocked new levels of joy (and growth) in Natasha’s work

  • Why client experience is more than prep guides and presents

  • Building “What’s Next” pages and video libraries to educate clients with ease

  • The real reason your clients don’t order albums—and how to change that

  • The power of automation to create consistency and free up your brain

  • The value of community and not doing this work alone

  • A reminder that your photos (and your life) don’t have to be perfect to be powerful

Whether you’re new to photography or 10 years in, this conversation will spark something in you. It’s a love letter to bravery, creativity, and honoring where you are—while still dreaming bigger.

Meet Natasha:
Natasha started her photography business in 2013 at 41—after years of raising kids and a past life as a teacher. In 2019, she scrapped posed studio sessions for in-home newborn and family photography, chasing meaning over perfection. It pushed her creatively—and she’s never looked back.

Three years ago, she added education into the mix. Now, she mentors photographers who are tired of guessing their way through business and want straight answers, honest feedback, and a more thoughtful way to grow.

Connect with Natasha:
Website
Instagram
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