Featured Website: Emma + Josh Photography

A custom designed Showit photography website

What an honor it was to design this website! I have known Emma for years, since my very first days with Showit. We’ve never had the opportunity to meet in person but have a long-standing social media friendship, including admin-ing some groups together in the past. When she reached out about her website I was over the moon!

Aside from being able to work with someone that I have admired for over a decade, I was so excited to give their brand an online home that was worthy of their talent and their awesome personality. (Purple, you guys… it’s purple!!)

Enhancing the E+J brand

With an established logo in place and purple as their signature color, these guys had a great base to start building on. I chose a simple san serif font for the headers that closely resembled their logo, a fun pop of script for accents, and a classic serif font for the body.

On a personal level, Emma + Josh have a deep love for Hawaii and all things tropical. I kept this in mind when choosing their accent colors. We ended with a subtle teal (water) and tan (sand) to offset the two shades of purple.

Copywriting was another important piece of the puzzle. They already had some great content in place on their current site as well as their social media accounts, it just needed a little bit of refining. We worked together to write copy with StoryBrand vibes that were not only professional but truly represented the couple’s fun, laid back personality.

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An Interview with Emma + Josh

You’re a husband/wife team, how exciting!! What can you tell us about working together? Any advice for other people out there considering starting a business with their spouse?  
When we are shooting together it’s SO much easier than with someone I don’t know. Josh can ready my face, he can anticipate what I may need and he knows when I see something and get a vision. He’s also very technical and I’m creative which comes in handy. For business behind the scenes, it is SO important to define roles for each person. In our business, I take care of all website upkeep and social media while Josh handles things like client management, contracts, etc. This helps us keep things running smoothly and we don’t have to say “Oh, I thought you did that!”

Why did you choose to pursue a career as a full-time photographer? 
I worked in customer service for as long as I can remember and I got burnt out. I picked up a camera when I was pregnant with my 2nd child and really enjoyed what I was doing. When we started focusing on weddings 100% I knew that I didn’t want to do anything else. 

What do you wish you had known prior to starting your own photography business? Is there anything you would have done differently in your career?
Practice makes perfect! Well not perfect, but the more you practice and the more you learn the more you grow. Looking back I would have taken classes on business management because running a business is WAY more than just shooting. 

What inspires your work? 
My couples. When we are working together I can get a feel for who they are and what they like and I am able to capture that. Fashion photography also inspires me to think outside of the box.

What’s the smartest thing you’ve ever done for your business? 
OUTSOURCED EDITING! I was so much happier when I was able to get that off my plate because it wasn’t “fun.” I had more time to do the things I wanted to do, versus the things I HAD to do.   

For the techie readers out there, what gear do you use at weddings? 
Sony Mirrorless cameras (I use the a7R III and Josh has the a7 III) and G lenses. Godox lighting. Magmod light modifiers.  

Where is your dream location to photograph a wedding? 
Greece. The architecture and the culture are so inspiring and beyond beautiful. 

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Are there any books that have inspired or helped you in your career? 
I admit that I don’t read a lot of tech books, I learn more in person. So attending in person workshops helped me the most, to be honest. I don’t think Perez Hilton or US Weekly could help me much in that regard, lol!

You have such a fun color scheme that is truly unique in today’s market. How did you decide on your branding?
I love purple! It has been my color for as long as I can remember, so purple has always been in every iteration of our website since 2006. Josh said when he married me that he married into purple and my daughter says purple is my personality trait, not a color, for me.

I like clean, so white has always been a big factor, bright and crisp. I trusted my designer to take my vision and bring that to life and we ended up with subtle turquoise touches to give it a bit of punch. Our logo has always been very simple. We worked with Melissa Love on our brand about 6 years ago and she chose a very modern but classic font and so we just use that with simple rectangle borders.  

You’ve been with Showit for quite some time now. With all of the other platforms out there, what has inspired you to stay for so long? 
I think we have been with Showit since 2009? The ease of use was paramount for me and Showit makes it so easy to go in, make a change, and publish. Their customer service is insane. It’s so much more than that, it’s a community and we have grown with this community from the beginning. We even helped create the first Showit FB community page. We honestly love the team so much and they have been there as friends for us in hard times, not just as a business. We are very brand loyal.

What prompted you to reach out to a designer for your website? 
I have changed the website SOOOO many times. We have had had a professional designer in the past but our brand has changed. We would go in and make changes ourselves and then I would dislike it, so I would buy different templates but none of it fit us 100%. We needed something to fit who we were and I loved you designs so I reached out!

Do you have a favorite page or section on your website? 
Ack…. I love so much about it, but I do love our favorites page because it expresses who we are in a fun way! I am also so proud that our daughter drew the icons on our info page.  

Your new site has been online for a few months now, how has it affected your business?
We have gotten such great feedback about the website. They mention the “feel” of it and how much it represents our personality. We are on page 1 for our keyword and we are getting more quality leads now.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 
After the last year, I learned that NOBODY can predict where they will be. Who would have thought, right? Seriously though, I see myself as having branched out into fashion and commercial work. Josh has been working on video and we will be producing great content from our weddings and maybe even other ways. 

Any final words?
I know that investing in a designer can be a daunting expense but it’s worth every penny because having a brand that represents YOU is the most important piece in a successful business/brand.  

Wanna see more? Find Emma + Josh on social media!
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