You can walk into a shoot with a detailed plan, a mood board, and every intention of getting the shot. But if you’ve ever worked behind the camera, you know how quickly things can change.
Maybe the lighting shifts, or your subject feels off. Maybe the space doesn’t give you what you thought it would. Suddenly, your carefully planned concept has to take a back seat—and you need to adapt, fast. That’s the nature of photography. It teaches you to respond to the moment, not just the plan.
Ironically, that same skill has served me just as much in email marketing.
Every campaign starts with a framework. You build the list, write the copy, segment your audience, and set your automations. But then something unexpected happens. Open rates drop. Engagement flatlines. Deliverability tanks. The strategy you were confident in… just doesn’t perform.
In both photography and marketing, being too rigid can kill creativity—and results.
What I’ve learned over the years is that the real professionals, in either field, aren’t the ones who stick to the original plan no matter what. They’re the ones who can read the situation, make quick adjustments, and still tell a powerful story.
In a shoot, maybe that means changing angles or using available shadows to create mood. In a campaign, maybe it’s rewriting your subject line on the fly, rethinking your offer, or switching up your cadence entirely.
The through line? Flexibility. Awareness. Intuition.
I used to think strategy was everything. Now I know it’s only half the equation. The other half is the ability to pivot with purpose—and still create something meaningful.
Because whether you’re framing a portrait or building a marketing flow, the magic is rarely in the plan. It’s in how you handle what comes next.