Today we’d like to introduce you to Nate & Amanda Howard.
Hi Nate & Amanda , thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We started our wedding photography business together 13 years ago. In a hammock together we dreamed of leaving our 9-5s and doing something that was creative together, something that felt more meaningful, and also that gave us space to travel and be outdoors more. We were so naive in the beginning, but have gotten to travel all over the country and world documenting weddings. Over the years, we have become a lot less naive and learned how to run a business well and have also grown our business a lot. We now have a team of creatives that share our vision of capturing weddings with a documentary style in photo and video.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In the beginning we were really just winging it. We were young and having so much fun and, honestly, wouldn’t change our story. We started when instagram just launched and were connecting with couples all over the globe. But then eventually we had a baby and instagram changed a lot and added algorithms and such. We realized we actually needed to learn SEO, how to market ourselves. and how to really run a business. 2020 was also a really hard year for anyone in the event industry. All of our weddings cancelled for a year, and then when events could happen again, between rescheduled events and new ones we needed to take for income, we got really burnt out. Since then we had to regain balance so we could feel creative and alive again. We really love where our business is at right now. We have an incredible team of artists working with us and get to capture weddings all over LA, the Mojave, Southern California, and we still occasionally go on bigger adventures around the states or across borders.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are documentary wedding photographers and videographers and are also so lucky to lead a team of artists that capture weddings with us. It has always been really important for us to capture weddings in a deeper and more meaningful way, so our style is very candid and photojournalist. We love getting to connect with couples from all different cultures, traditions, and walks of life and get the chance to tell the story of this very big, beautiful day of their life together. We use a mix of film and digital for our photo and video, which we absolutely love. Including film feels so inspiring and it’s such a gritty and nostalgic addition to help couples remember their wedding. It’s such incredible work to do because we are always getting to do something weird, new, and different. Our favorite weddings are ones that couples break the mold and create celebrations that feel unique to what they care about. We have photographed a wedding at Bates Hotel at Universal Hollywood, celebrity weddings in the heart of LA, many weddings at favorite LA joints (Bacari, Spago, De La Nonna, etc.), two lifeguards who got married on a boat at sea, a wedding at the mystic museum in Burbank, a traditional wedding in Hong Kong, and some of the most meaningful backyard weddings throughout LA.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Doing something that feels meaningful and creative, feeling connected to others, and being able to create a life that still has space for being alive in it. We just bought a 1984 VW Westfalia and are very excited to explore the coast with our daughter when we have time off.
Pricing:
- Photography Packages starting at $5,200
- Video Packages starting at $4,500
- Average couples spend $7,500
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theshalomimaginative.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshalomimaginative
Image Credits
The Shalom Imaginative
