Carla Coulson, harpers bazaar, portrait photographer, lifestyle photography, justin hemmed, kate fowler, the hermitage, slim aarons, pool, wooden boat, white bedroom, swimming pool

Start With A Vision

 

Dear Folks,

Many people ask me how do I translate an idea into photography reality. So often we have glamorous, cool or moody ideas of what we would like yet our outcome is something else. Anybody seen the Life of Pi client expectations and budget floating around on the net!

Carla Coulson, harpers bazaar, portrait photographer, lifestyle photography, justin hemmed, kate fowler, the hermitage, slim aarons, pool, wooden boat, white bedroom, swimming pool

Sometimes photos that look so simple are in reality a ‘battle’ to get the outcome you would like and others are gifts to you. This shoot was one of those gifts!

When I am working on a shoot my starting point is a vision.

I liken photography to any goal in life, if you can’t see it, how can you get there? 

When I was shooting this story for Harper’s Bazaar of the beautiful Kate Fowler and Justin Hemmes my vision for these photos started long before I picked up the camera.

Carla Coulson, harpers bazaar, portrait photographer, lifestyle photography, justin hemmed, kate fowler, the hermitage, slim aarons, pool, wooden boat, white bedroom, swimming pool

What Was My Vision?

  1. When I scouted the place I noticed lots of opportunities to shoot from different perspectives 
  2. When I stood on the property flashbacks to famous photos, photographers and cool folk started my inspiration process 
  3. I allowed my body to help me. Spaces that excited me such as the pool area and the staircase allowed my imagination to run wild and so much of photography is about imagination
  4. Over the years I have looked at hundreds of thousands of images, films and historical references and its in these moments they serve me. They come to me as inspiration
  5. Give yourself permission to photograph the things you love and the way you want

 

As this was a big shoot my vision started kicking in days before and often an idea would come to me driving, swimming or in the middle of the night. Yes, my shoots keep me awake at night.

So by the day of the shoot I had plenty of ideas of where I could shoot and what I was trying to achieve. 

Carla Coulson, harpers bazaar, portrait photographer, lifestyle photography, justin hemmed, kate fowler, the hermitage, slim aarons, pool, wooden boat, white bedroom, swimming pool

But how do I get a final result that is as good as the image in my head? This is something I will be teaching this October in Puglia on the Heartland – People and Spaces Workshop. How to take a vision and make it happen and not walk away from it when it isn’t working out. 

We have ONE PLACE available if you would love to take great people and spaces pics in a place close to heaven. You can read full details HERE.

Light and love

Carla x

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Backstage Secrets to this Harper’s Bazaar Shoot

Dear Folks,

I thought I would let you in on a couple of backstage secrets of how I shot this recent Harper’s Bazaar story with the beautiful Heidi Middleton and her fabulous babes.

I didn’t have the luxury of scouting this beautiful property prior before packing my bags so I jumped online  to see if I could find any images to see the setting of the place. For me this is vital as it will assist me in knowing which lens to pack.

From the images I found on the net I thought the property was in a big field but when I arrived I was surprised (and delighted to see) it was actually in a village. This made capturing a big home like this from the front challenging because I was very close to the building.

Some of you may recall from my ‘How to shoot a chateau’ post that the bigger the building the trickier it is to keep lines straight if you can’t get far enough away from it.

Heidi was a dream! I think I have probably mentioned before how much I love Heidi. What a dream she was to shoot, her calmness, kindness, creativity and beauty. She was great and knew her property backwards and loved some particular parts like the beautiful ivy wall and we all dreamed of her being photographed on it on a ladder.

 

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Red Dress Series

  1. To shoot this photo I was on a super long ladder leaning up against the neighbors’ house in front! So the building wasn’t totally distorted I needed to be as high as I could or at least as close as possible to the middle of the building height. Shooting from a ladder is not my favourite place (yikes, did I tell you about my fear of heights) and Heidi was sitting on the balcony of the building.
  2. I used a 70-200m L-series Canon lens and my arms were literally in a spasm by the time we had completed the shot. I had to balance myself the best I could so as not to have camera shake from the heavy lens.
  3. We started out with Heidi sitting on the balcony and doing some more detailed shots and this lens meant that I could capture as much of the building in the image as possible including the turret, come closer in for a portrait and a vertical shot of her being playful.
  4. I couldn’t have done these pictures without a team. We had a super photographer with me and another assistant with Heidi and we took breaks as much as possible.
  5. When I look at the shots now I think we must have gone mad! But they were shot in a very short time. I wouldn’t recommend that any of you do this. DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO!

 

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Flowery Skirt and Top Series

  1. To shoot this photo we required two ladders! So the building wasn’t totally distorted I needed to be as high as I could or at least as close as possible to the middle of the building height. That meant both of us were on super long ladders. My assistant held my ladder as I had an extremely heavy lens and feared tipping.
  2. To have the variety of images you see of the ivy wall it took a while for me to get my ladder in the right position and then we were fighting against the light that was about to come over the turret (who wouldn’t want a building with a turret?) and straight into my lens.
  3. I used a 70-200m L-series Canon lens and my arms like in the pic above.  I had to balance myself the best I could so as not to have camera shake from the heavy lens.
  4. This lens gave me the flexibility to come in for a close-up and still get as much of the building as I could without getting off my ladder. We lost a lot of time moving the ladder even an increment.
  5. To get that skirt moving and add a little magic took a lot of yelling across the front yard as we were both so far away from each other. Her moving the skirt added a new level to the photo.

The last shot of Heidi and her girls were shot in a field of flowers (and required no ladders, yay) we spotted on our way to her place in the morning. This pic was taken just after the sun slid over the hill and I exposed for her skin which gave the little backlight in her hair but left the rest of the foreground in even light.

I hope you enjoyed these little insights into this shoot, it really was one of those special photography days you hold tight to your heart.

Sending love

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Related Post: Carla Coulson In Harper’s Bazaar

How To Find Your Photographic Style

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Photo Copyright Elliott Erwitt

Dear Photographers,

One of the questions I am asked often is ‘how do I find my style as a photographer’?

So let’s look first at what is a style or vision?

Photography is a personal vision. It is an individual way of looking at the world and capturing a photo that tells a story.

No two photographers see the same subject in the same way. Your particular taste and vision will set you apart from other photographers and this is your precious gift.  A photographer’s vision can be seen repeated in their photos over and over again, like a brand.

The great Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt’s trademark black and white images of dogs, street photography and portraits are infused with humour, wit and romance.  Steve McCurry another Magnum star almost works exclusively in vibrant colour with a more serious tone and if you look closely at his portraits they are always simple and engaging.

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Photo Copyright Steve McCurry

Robert Doisneau exclusively used black and white and his images of Paris are romantic, sweet and always with a dash of innocence. You can almost feel the kindness of this man in his images.

The great Elliott Erwitt also has this to say about his style and his choice of subject matter. Erwitt mentions in interviews that ‘his colleagues in Magnum are generally seen as more “serious” photographers– who photograph more “serious” events.’

However Erwitt tries to not take himself too seriously: “Well, I’m not a serious photographer like most of my colleagues. That is to say, I’m serious about not being serious.”

One thing that all these photographers have in common is that you can easily recognize their work without seeing their ‘byline’ (byline is a photographer’s or a journalist’s name printed alongside their story in a magazine). Their work is their byline.

They all have their own vision, their own style of lighting, emotions they wish to portray, their own presentation of their photos, mood of their work, personality and their own special way that they communicate through their images

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Photos Copyright Carla Coulson

How I Found My Style

When I arrived in Florence in the year 2000, I didn’t have access to a huge group of friends or contacts but I did have Popi (my gorgeous landlady) and her friends. I started there, I asked to photograph them, the kids I shared the house with and the people on the streets of Florence and slowly the people I would interact with each day.

I started messing around, taking photos that I thought I wanted to take from portraits to fashion inspired photos. I followed my heart and this is where it led me. I now realise the values I held dear and subjects that were in my subconscious at the time came through.

LOVE AND EMOTIONS

Love and lack of it in the previous years had been a big theme for me and when I arrived in Italy it seemed like I was surrounded by it. Photography has always been about the emotions for me. Capturing all those outwardly expressed emotions in Italy came naturally. I couldn’t believe the amount of public displays of affection and I think it was also a reflection of the highly emotional state I felt after leaving my life in Sydney to find something I loved – photography.

A lot of what we shoot as photographers is about how WE FEEL.

MOVEMENT

I had been trapped in an office for the best part of my adult life and movement felt like the opposite to me, it represented life, action and adventure. I was obsessed with movement of all kinds including families on vespas, people of all ages riding bikes in Florence or driving strange little vehicles in the Italian countryside. Movement has become part of my style as I am always attracted to it no matter whether it is vespas, cars or people. I love blur and the emotions that come with movement in a photo.

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Photos Copyright Carla Coulson

RELIGIOUS ICONOGRAPHY

My obsession with religious iconography had to do with my lack of religious grounding in Australia and arriving to the overload and beauty of religious iconography in Italy. I was a magnet to a Madonna! I was obsessed with every tabernacle on a street corner, statues of Madonna’s in churches and religious art and just kept shooting them. I never asked why or what I would do with them but I think it comes back to my instinct.

I was attracted to the emotion they portrayed and just went with it.

ELEGANCE

I have always loved fashion and had long been a lover of fashion magazines and beautiful clothes. This love flowed over into photography even though I was shooting travel and life photos in the beginning it was often reflected.

I loved the innate elegance of Italians and would stop well-dressed people in the street and ask if I could take a photo. If I had the choice I would seek out someone dressed at the market in a certain way or with the right apron and boots. Clothes have always been a big deal for me and they are still are a big part of how I love to shoot. They really help make an image stronger.

Confession: I have ‘tweaked’ or created photos from the beginning, dressing friends and even Francesco on holidays to go out and take a photo that I wanted or felt would express something.

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Photos Copyright Carla Coulson

HUMOUR

I love things that make me laugh in life and even more when I can capture it in a photo. I think this comes back to who we are as photographers, often what we shoot is how WE FEEL OR THINK. IT IS OFTEN ABOUT US.

BLACK AND WHITE

I shot and printed almost exclusively in black and white in the early years and as I didn’t have an end use at the time for my images, I did what pleased me. Black and white became a huge part of my style and in the early years I loved shooting at night and would always end up with half a roll of film in my camera the day afterwards and go out and shoot in daylight – hence I always had a lot of grain in my images – all by accident.

SUBJECTS

There is a certain romance, nostalgia and love of all things old and falling apart in my style (except for people). You will probably notice in most of my travel images there is rarely a modern building or a clean hard edged interior, you are more likely to find a building or street with an ancient story or full of life, walls with peeling paint and faded colours. This was and is a reflection of my love for Europe and its stories and layers.. just like life.

I love authenticity and textures.

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Photos Copyright Carla Coulson

How To Find Your Style

Your style will have a great value in the future.

  1. Don’t be in hurry to develop your ‘style’. It will come naturally if you take the photos that you love and from the heart. Try not to be too influenced by everyone around you.
  2. Ask yourself what are your values, what is important to you?
  3. Keep shooting the photos you want to take and listen to your inner voice. Don’t ask why
  4. Ask yourself what is it you want to say in your images?
  5. With time your style will come without you even realising it. You may find using a particular camera, a particular lighting setup, a post production process, a lens, injecting energy and emotions or using a certain depth of field may create an effect you like and your natural style will develop.
  6. The post production choices that you make to present your photos is also a big contributor to your style, whether you choose to use high contrast black and white, punchy colour, faded vintage colours or low contrast sepia images all becomes part of your photographic look.

Music portrait photographer Anton Corbijn found his style by accident. He decided against using a flash or a tripod when shooting his portraits — he claims that he’s never been good with the technical stuff — and because of that he developed an instantly recognizable style using high speed grainy film early on.

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Photos Copyright Carla Coulson

Your handicap is your strongest asset,” he explains. “I made it work for myself, and then somehow that becomes how you take pictures, which is different to a lot of people. I mean, you always strive for the perfect thing, but then life gets in the way. A lot of my better pictures have slight imperfections… I look back at the old pictures, and I made so many mistakes.

I hope this helps you on your path to finding your style and personal vision.

“But I tell you, for me, each photographer brings his own light from when he was a kid, in this fraction of a second when you freeze reality, you also freeze all this background. You materialize who you are.” Sebastiao Salgado

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Related Post: How My Greatest Weakness Became My Biggest Strength

If I Was Starting Out Today Here’s What I Would Do

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All Photos Copyright Carla Coulson

Dear Friend,

Oh how life has changed in such a short number of years. When I started out in photography I was still shooting film and sending ‘trannies’ to magazines on the other side of the world.

Everything, and I mean everything has changed!

I was asked the question the other day if I was starting out today what would I do differently? Sheesh, that got me thinking and asking questions and looking closely at the way I did things and I do things now.

The start is so wonderful, it is like the first flush of love when you would to anything for that love. Your energy and enthusiasm is ready to smash all glass ceilings and if your can harness and direct that power in the right direction you could set cities alight!

So if you are starting out, instead of poking around in the dark here’s what I would do today.

LOOK AT DIFFERENT ‘MODELS’ OF PHOTOGRAPHY

I would look at the different ways one can become a photographer whilst studying your craft. There are so many marvellous ‘models’ and the internet has changed and opened everything in 10 years. There are wonderful success stories like Alex Stoddard (fine art), Lara Jade (fashion) , Katie Quinn Davies (food +styling), This Wild Idea (Instagram) who have taken the new route and created a career of the modern age through social media backed up by marvellous, creative, true to their style photography. They created amazing work and put it out there and let the world get excited and that created a buzz around it.

Why? Before you jump into anything, the smart thing would be to inform yourself about it. I didn’t, I just dived off a high cliff and almost hit the rocks below. This wasn’t a fun experience and then I had to paddle up a river that felt like going up Niagara falls the wrong way. I learnt everything by trial and error and on the other side of the world (Italy) and wasted money and years. Somewhere in the middle I lost sight of what I wanted to do because I was working it all out as I went along. If you can track yourself down a real live working photographer who is doing what you would like to do and ask them the reality of it.

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GIVE MY CREATIVITY SPACE

Give myself more time to be creative before putting pressure on myself to start making money from photography! Yes folks you may consider me one of the lucky ones who got published straight out of photography school with 13 pages in Marie Claire. I was in a desperate hurry to make some money and photography seemed to be the only outlet available to me in Italy where I didn’t have a permit to work. If I was starting out now and I could make money doing something else, I would allow my relationship with photography to develop with time, love and experience.

Why? I remember the sickening feeling of having my first job, of the sleepless nights and the investment of film to ‘overshoot’ to make sure I had what the client needed. Even though we can all pick up a camera today and you don’t have to know all the technicalities that you needed to know then, I think many people like me tend to jump in at the deep end (for whatever reasons) when they are still ‘half baked’. Yes, the creative and technical pudding is still soft in the centre and photography like all crafts takes time to develop your aesthetic, your techniques, your voice, your language, your sensitivity to colour and your inner belief in what you are doing.

When we ask for money for our photography when are still developing our aesthetic we are too eager to please the person paying the bills and straight out of the blocks we start to compromise our artistic vision before we have let that little baby flower. You haven’t even had the luxury to understand what your photography purpose is in life and BOOM you start losing it straight away.

Therefore, I would suggest take your time, discover, be curious, be like a beautiful dog and go sniff out some bushes and see what comes of it. Shoot the breeze with your photography, have a love affair, look whimsically into each others eyes before you move in together and start washing each others undies!!!

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INSTAGRAM + SOCIAL MEDIA

When I started in photography social media meant going to have a chat with one of your friends who knew someone or had heard about a job that you might be interested in. It also meant picking up the phone to your favourite magazine or client and asking if you could come over and show them your pics. It meant going to the parties where all the ‘right’ people were going if you were in the fashion industry. It meant shaking your booty so god damn hard that you actually started to meet the world. If I was starting out today I would go build the biggest most beautiful INSTAGRAM account with every relevant hashtag whilst studying my craft, waiting tables, transitioning from a job or hanging out with my boyfriend Mr. Photography. Long before I was actually ready to start.

Why? Because the whole world is looking and connecting with each other on social media platforms such as Instagram whilst I was in Sydney a friend who works in magazines said that they no longer do Picture Editors enter a keyword into Google when they need an image they put it straight into Instagram! There is a double whammy effect of having a wonderful social media profile, you may just be discovered and even if you don’t know where it is going to take you at the beginning it gives your work visibility, you choice and an eventual much needed audience no matter what kind of photographer you are. The first question you will be asked when you front up to a publisher is how many people do you have on social media? A photographer I know who had photographed oodles of books for International chefs decided to pitch a book of his own, first question, how many people do you have on social media? Do you have a blog? When the answer came back as ‘No’, the publisher didn’t offer him a book deal.

Another photographer I know created an amazing blog with her work, created an International buzz which in turn created a large social network on the net and a publisher found her work on Google and offered her a book deal.

PORTFOLIO

Sheesh, the portfolio is right down at number four. That isn’t because it is the least important it is because it is the most important! Yes folks developing your craft, putting love, thought and experience into you portfolio will take you somewhere far quicker than starting out too early with a ‘half-baked’ portfolio.

Why? Someone who has built up an Instagram account or vibing social media and then creates a ‘rock-star’ portfolio and launches it to his/her community will have the beginnings of an instant made business, just add Vodka and shake!

If you do it the other way around, you have an incredible portfolio or body of work you can go see clients in the traditional way, get in touch with websites etc or launch it to ‘deaf ears’ on your non-existent social media network. Yes, your beautiful work will be seen by no-one till you start playing catch-ups.

carla coulson, portrait shoot, martina franca, profession photographer,

PRACTICE

I would have practiced more before handing over my precious craft for money (sheesh did I say that).

Why? Photography is like mastering a violin, riding a perfect wave or writing a beautiful book. Whatever you want to master in life you need to put the hours in. Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers says “to truly master something you need to put in 10,000 hours” and I am telling you from experience and someone that has put in 10,000 hours confidence, experience and depth comes in the doing. You mightn’t need to do your 10,000 hours before starting but make sure you have done way more than 100 hours or it will show.

WEBSITE

When I was ready to start I would go build me one of these beautiful shiny new websites (well kind of like what I have) but it doesn’t need to be that tricky. It should be easy to navigate, show off your beautiful portfolio, tell us who you are and what inspires you and what you are selling!! Yes, don’t put up a bunch of gorgeous pictures without telling us if you are a fine artist and where you are showing, if you are doing children’s photography or wanting to do travel, tell us please what you are selling. Yes, dear photographer if you want to eat and work as a photographer it means you are selling something and hopefully that something is your work. Please make it clear and simple.

The people starting out today have so many wonderful resources at their disposal, we are heading into the ‘Age of Aquarius’ and in all things spiritual and creative so hats off to the lucky souls who are flexing their Aquarian creativity, vision and energy.

I hope this little insight helps you on your path.

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.” Buddha

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PS: I would love you to share to help anyone new starting out

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5 Things I Learnt From My Small Business and Applied to Photography

Carla Coulson private portrait black and white paris

Private Portrait Copyright Carla Coulson

I know you have been dying to read this post for years!!

‘Cause this is one of the frequent emails that pops into my inbox ‘what did you learn from your business and take to photography?’

It’s a great question because the truth is I took lots, almost all of what I learnt good and bad (what not to do).

As a photographer whether you are a freelancer working for magazines, fashion photography or shooting for National Geographic, you are your own small business.

Today I am going to cover the Top 5 Things I ‘translated’ from my old business to becoming a photographer.

Carla-Coulson-portrait1-10

Private Portrait Copyright Carla Coulson

PRODUCT

Before you start any business you need a product and that includes photography. One of the things I learnt in my old business was that you don’t need to ‘re-invent the wheel’. If you offer a good product, good service and do what you say you can have a successful business.

So photographers whether you want to do travel, portraiture, fashion or weddings you need a ‘product’. Your work is your own ‘unique product’ and no-one else can produce it. It isn’t good enough to have 5 photos, you need a portfolio of work that will communicate to your ‘customer’ whether they are magazines, private clients or advertising agencies what you do.

So don’t be in a rush to get started just take the pics that you love and that will speak loudest.

carla_loves_photography02

Private Portrait Copyright Carla Coulson

WHO IS YOUR CLIENT?

Before you can start your fabulous marketing program (up next) you need to know who you are marketing to. When I started in photography I knew I wanted to be a travel photographer and for 11 years that is exactly what I did mixed up with interiors and portraits.

I knew from the beginning I wanted to work with magazines and books so my clients were magazines and publishers in Australia. I built a portfolio that would speak to my favourite magazines and eventually a publisher. Knowing who your client is is fundamental.

When I switched to portrait photography I defined who my gal was!

carla coulson small business to photographer

MARKETING

Ok, so you have your portfolio, you know who your client is, so the next step is you need to market to them. Marketing is just a word for communicating your work and that can be done in hundreds of different ways from making a call, an appointment, sending your brochure, business cards, posters, social media, website, exhibitions, launches and talking to the person sitting next to you in a bar, on a plane or at a function.

When I started as a travel photographer my ‘marketing plan’ was to meet art directors and have my work published as quickly as possible. I simply picked up the phone, told them I was a photographer living in Italy and had some stories to show and they allowed me to visit. I rang as many of the magazines I wanted to meet with and repeated the same thing. When Marie Claire eventually published my story they too were ‘marketing’ for me. They printed my name alongside of my work that reached up to 100,000 readers and other art directors in the industry.

Social media is a wonderful way of getting your work out there as well as starting your very own list of contacts.

CARLA COULSON small business to photographer

PRESENTATION

In my old business we sold a good but unexciting product (corporate clothing). But one stroke of genius we did do was to hire a fashion photographer and great models and we photographed the product like an editorial story. This was my first glimpse backstage at a photo shoot (needless to say I lurrved it) and we gave our product an edge. We spent a lot of money at the time on an amazing catalogue designed by a great graphic artist and off we charged ahead of our competition.. Why? Because our presentation spoke of good quality, product and service because it looked better than the competitions by a country mile (for the Aussies).

Presentation is a vital part of a small business, it says who you are, whether you are into quality or not and it can make or break the deal. When I presented my images to my publisher for the first time for Italian Joy I took in A3 images on fine art paper (cost a bomb) but they looked so much better than 10 x 15cm pics.

Think hard about your presentation, invest in professionals to get the look and feel that helps communicate your product and services.

Francesco Greece Carla Coulson

Super Francesco by Moi!!

MORALS AND ETHIC

I packed the same morals and ethics I had in my small business and took them in a suitcase to Italy!! It was always my intention to do the right thing by my customer even if sometimes it meant losing money.

Once I made a fatal area and when to the wrong airport in Paris (drrrrrr) and realised too late that I need to be at CDG and raced across town to miss the plane by 5mins..

I had the option to go home and let me client down or spend 800 Euros and get on the next plane to Venice and do what I promised. I spent the 800 Euros (which really hurt at time) and went to Venice!! I never told my client (a magazine) but they continued to use me for years to come because I delivered on time and did what I said I would do.

Always try and keep your word, trust is important..

And always have fun..

I hope these tips give you a little incite and how they can work for you.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs

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Please feel free to share to others who this may help. xx

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