12/09/2019
With the end of 2019, Salt to Clay Photography will be closing down. We each shared our thoughts in a separate note below for those who'd like to read. Thanks so much for trekking with us! ❤
From Shannon:
In early 2014 I was looking at grad schools for international development and simultaneously trying to make heads or tails of my camera manual. I had started nannying for Taylor and when she wasn’t editing in her dark basement, she would come upstairs and have a snack with me or make us some “toddy”. She would occasionally answer little questions I had about my basic DSLR and I tried not to pester her too much. Eventually, she said we should go out and “practice” with her daughter, Mae, in the alley behind her house. She said you only learn by picking the camera up and trying and told me to put my manual away for awhile.
You can read that as part of the story for how I became a photographer, but it’s really a snippet from a much bigger story, that is the story of my friendship with Taylor. And I’m here to tell a little more of that friendship story.
If I am to be one thing in life, I hope it is a friend. When Taylor and I started Salt to Clay Photography, we thought of it as an endeavor of friendship. We liked having fun together and creating together, because those are things friends do. It has been said that “Friendship is THE way to change the world” and I really believe that. In our business, we sought first to be friends to each other, and then to extend that friendship to our clients and models and the vendors we worked with. We planned to change the world.
It’s hard to write about the ideas you believe in most. So while I’ve been thinking about this message for awhile now, it still comes haltingly, awkwardly, and honestly cannot live up to my hopes of what I mean or want to communicate. But this is part of being a friend, too : saying things imperfectly because they need to be said.
Taylor and I have decided to close down Salt to Clay Photography. While this “job” has not been without its many struggles, seasons of defeat, competitive moments, or despair, none of these are the reason we’ve decided to close it down. It’s a simple reason: our friendship is more important to us. What I mean to say, is that our personal lives currently require a higher level of friendship from us, and the business is simply too much in the way of being the type of friend we need from each other right now. We are setting aside the role of "business partner" in order to do so.
We are so sad and so grateful. We are not quitting the business of creating together, that is woven into our friendship DNA and will always be something we do. We will miss the amazing people we’ve worked with, and the couples and families who have let us be part of their most intimate days and vulnerable moments. We don’t take for granted being chosen to stand at the altar with you, or the faith you put in us when you let us mark the passing of another year in your family’s lives, or the vulnerability you offered when we asked to share your story with people.
We’re not giving up on the drive we feel to create things, to observe people and learn from them, or to savor every last drop of light in the day. But we will redirect it, in order to be the people we most want to be, which is not business owners.
I did end up attending grad school in 2015, for one week. And then I quit. And I'm still a young immature human, but so far it seems to me that the times that have required the most bravery from me have been the moments where I knew I needed to quit something. I needed to step down from what seemed like a path of success for, what? Something. I often don’t know.
This time though, I know I'm quitting for my friend. I'm quitting so I can try to be a better one. Business is cheap, and any friendship worth having should cost you everything.
We don't drink toddy anymore. Our lives have changed so much over the years. But I look back to that time and it renews my resolve. I gain from it both a sense of longing and a feeling of being shoved forward into this unknown. I see that it's time to put the manual down again and just try. I see that I'm still learning the same lesson from Taylor that she started teaching me back then.
And while I am heartbroken to say goodbye to this chapter in my life and the opportunities it provided, I feel so proud of the work we’ve done together. Proud of the photos we’ve taken, yes, but mostly the friends we’ve made and been. And with that passion in mind, to be good friends to one another and spur each other on to be a good friend to others, I don’t feel that we are losing too much. We are focused on what we always have been. And we plan to change the world.
“Smiling through it,
She said she'd do it again”
- “The Audition” from La La Land
———
From Taylor
I hope the words that I put down will convey the complications and sadness of something so special closing down.
Many of you know, but I had been doing photography for almost a decade as OneButton Photography and had the view point of “whats the point of a second shooter!? I can do everything myself and get every shot I need….no one really is worth shooting with.”
No joke.
This thought continued for almost a decade until I met Shannon.
She started nannying for me as I edited weddings in my basement and our friendship changed and grew deeper. Shannon started asking me technical questions about her camera- typical Shannon asking the technical side and wanting to understand the “why?” (For those that do the enneagram, she’s a 5) 😉
From this point, I got to be with her as she was practicing shooting and I knew immediately that she had insane natural talent and to top it off- the depth of friendship she encourages is unlike anyone I have ever met. So, needless to say, but I will say it anyway- I knew she was that unicorn friend/business partner.
Thus began our adventures together and the formation of Salt To Clay Photography.
So many amazing memories have been formed through the vessel of Salt To Clay. Its given me the full range of emotions- its had me laughing and crying so many times!!! For the duration of the business, we have fought hard for it and for our friendship along the way and its been worth it. But now, we have decided to close the business to put that friendship at the forefront. Our lives have changed so much, and I want to be present in the friendship side more than the business because its what matters. I cant even explain the sadness of closing something we worked so hard at, but its also hard to explain the joy knowing that I get to have fun with Shannon without the Salt to Clay record turning in the background.
As we came to this really difficult decision, I have been able to reflect and be grateful to every client who has trusted us. Every friend/family who has encouraged us. Every bit of growth personally we have gone through due to the different situations we’ve been in. The beautiful moments we’ve gotten to be a part of so intimately with people. OUR FREAKING HUSBANDS WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US CONTINUALLY!!! They shouldn’t be this late in the post… Zane has stood by me in every part of this and continually helped me step in and out of every part of this venture. Evan has been continually marketing, setting up our website, setting up the business!! Sacrificing so much time and himself. When people describe what family is- Evan and Shannon are the definition.
So as we say goodbye to Salt to Clay its obviously sad and gut wrenching in many ways, but in others joyful and at peace. We aren’t done making art or capturing the small details and moments, just maybe capturing them in our minds instead of through a lens for a bit 🙂.
