HeyJaredThe Raw Files
Welcome to the video podcasts of The Raw Files. A podcast for photography business, technology, education and life.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 8
- Latest publication
- Sep 22, 2026
- Audience
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 17, 2026
Latest episodes
EP.2 More Leads Won't Fix Your Photography Business — Here's What Actually Will (opens the original)
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Summary The most common thing photographers say when business feels slow is "I need more leads." It's the most visible lever — post more, run ads, go viral, optimize SEO. It feels like action. But Vanessa Joy makes the case that more leads is almost always the wrong first move, and in many cases it actively makes the problem worse by sending more traffic into a business that isn't structured to convert it. This episode breaks down why more leads without lead-readiness just accelerates a leaky bu
EP.1 Fully Booked and Still Broke: The Math Problem Every Wedding Photographer Needs to Solve (opens the original)
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Summary Most wedding photographers hit a wall that looks like a bookings problem but is actually a business structure problem. They're shooting 20, 25, even 30 weddings a year and still watching money disappear — putting gear on credit cards, skipping vacations, wondering why a fully booked calendar doesn't feel like success. The instinct is to book more. The reality is that more bookings without fixing the underlying structure just creates more of the same problem at higher volume. In this solo
The Wedding Photographer Content Debate Nobody Is Being Honest About (Until Now) (opens the original)
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Summary Wedding photographers are drawing battle lines over behind-the-scenes content. On one side: photographers who create reels and BTS clips at weddings to attract clients and show personality. On the other: photographers publicly vowing to never touch their phone on a wedding day, calling the practice intrusive, self-serving, and unprofessional. The discourse online has gotten loud — and, if you look closely, a little suspicious. In this roundtable episode of The Raw Files, Vanessa Joy sits
She Got Attacked for Paying Too Little — The Same Week I Got Attacked for Charging Too Much (opens the original)
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Emily was 18 years old, paying for her own wedding, and doing her best to make smart financial decisions. She found a photography company through Google, liked their galleries, trusted their reviews, and paid $2,000 for six and a half hours of coverage. What she got was a photographer who showed up two hours late without warning, missed three hours of contracted time, left an hour early without notice, and refused a refund when asked. Then — almost two years later — Emily made a casual video lau
The Wedding Photographer Who Jumped in Fully Clothed to Save a Drowning Child (opens the original)
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What does it actually take to react instantly when a child's life is on the line? In this episode, wedding photographer Lauren Birmingham shares the full story behind the split-second rescue that went viral across the photography community and beyond. While shooting a wedding at a country club, Lauren noticed a toddler push a floating pool chair toward deep water — and sensed immediately what was about to happen. Within seconds, she was sprinting, camera equipment and all, toward the edge of the
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