Best of TuBelle Photography Portrait Sessions | Year End Review + Highs & Lows

2023 was a year of growth & really pursuing my dreams. TuBelle Photography has grown so much during the past year. After hiring Brittany in 2022, I have decided to hire 3 more associate photographers at the beginning of 2023, Brooke, Meagan, and Hebah. Brittany was promoted to Lead Associate Photographer. With continuous training that I had provided, they all (I call them the TBP Family), as well as Brittany, contributed to TBP’s most successful year yet. All in all, we did a total of 146 sessions in 2023. In fall alone, we did 87 sessions in a span of 3.5 months. In the middle of the year, I also hired an Office Assistant to help with some of the things I’m doing.

At the beginning of the year, I talked to my IT job boss to let him know that I would like to switch to part time. There was a lot of preparations and second guessing myself, but with the help of my family & friends who believe in me, I managed to make it a reality in April. Since April, the income from TBP is no longer something that the family uses for “experiences”; if it’s not going to back to TBP’s expenses, it is being used to pay our bills and raise our family. After 8 months, I still can’t believe that happened.

When TBP celebrated its 4th anniversary, I had officially launched TuBelle Photography Commercial where I help small business owners stand out in the market through branding & product photography.

Later in the year, I attended an in person workshop in Charleston, SC with a photographer I admire, BreAnne Weston. It was an amazing experience and one that I will never forget. I did fall in love with the place, especially after we did a beach session. I actually tried to convince my husband to move to SC solely for beach sessions; but as you can see, I wasn’t successful.

Lastly, before the year ended, I had built my photography studio. I’ve been dreaming of having one for as long as I can remember. And last December, the work finally began. I can still remember when my husband and I were about to leave so that I can go paint and flooring shopping, I had this “I cannot believe this is happening” moment. But let me just say, choosing the paint & flooring, is the most stressful part of it. I didn’t know something so simple can be so hard. Haha! I did spend some days after Christmas to start setting up the studio even though I should be resting & relaxing. I still have some stuff to do, but I am hoping to officially open the studio for business within the next couple of weeks. *fingers crossed*

Of course, 2023 didn’t end without a single challenge. We had 2 major challenges this year. Brooke had a personal emergency so she had to stop taking sessions with a fully booked fall calendar in the beginning of fall. I thought I’ve left enough buffer in everyone’s schedule for rain dates that we could use for this kind of emergency but it wasn’t enough. We shifted some things, opened more dates in our calendars, with the support of our families made it work, and worked harder to serve all clients who have trusted us. We managed to keep all our clients happy and I am so grateful for the dedication & passion of the TBP Family.

Culling & editing for 5 photographers became a nightmare. I became the bottleneck when it came to working on our galleries especially when multiple people had sessions on the same weekend. I thought I had good systems in place to handle the business growth. Changes were made, focus and late nights helped me finish everything. This year, I am trying out a new process that could possibly solve this issue. I am so glad to have been able to survive a crazy busy fall season.

Having said all of that. I think it’s about time to look at all our hard work in 2023.

Most of our clients are new, but we did have a lot of returning clients.

We’ve had a total of 146 sessions and the majority of them were done by the 4 associate photographers.

The majority of the sessions that we have done in 2023 are mini sessions. We’ve also done quite a bit of training sessions.

I know you’re here for the photos so here they are!

Let’s start with these newborn photos that I did throughout 2023.

How funny is it that the 2 maternity sessions I did were both done at the same park? Haha!

These seniors sessions that I did were super fun and really encouraged me to be creative with the locations that were chosen.

Here are the family sessions I did throughout the year. You might recognize the kids and Santa in one of the pictures. They’re one of my clients who has been with me since I started my business in 2019. This year, they really liked my red truck minis so decided to do a red truck Christmas theme for their photos.

These are all the spring minis that Brittany and I did in 2023.

These are all the fall minis that all of us, including Hebah and Meagan, did in 2023.

I also offered 2 Christmas mini session setup last year. One is the red truck/Santa minis that everyone loves, and then I decided to offer a studio minis for clients who want a different setup this year.

These are all the family, maternity, newborn, milestone, and senior sessions that all associate photographers did last year. Look at these photos. Did I mention how proud I am of them? I smile whenever I see these.

I am grateful for all our clients who have trusted & supported TBP in 2023 and for the TBP family for their passion and dedication. Cheers to a very successful year!

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If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:

2022 Year End Review

Best of 2021

2020 Year End Review