April Newsletter: Moarch Diaries #1
Thank you for joining Monarch Diaries (MD), a monthly newsletter for people who want to slow down and learn from others in an effort to learn more about yourself. You’ll receive this email around the first of every month. Never sale-sy, always vibing.
Firstly, thank you for joining this community! This is where I make sense of some things that possibly trouble me, inspire me, or have taught me. Things that I suppose I don’t always want to post on social media for my husband’s cousin’s girlfriend of the month to read. You get the idea.
The reason that I want these to be private, between you subscribers and I, is because:
A) I like knowing that when I’m writing something with meaning, it will be heard/read with intention to think. Not scrolled through, not intentionally avoided. Of course, I am also guilty of subscribing to things that JUST TAKE UP TOO MUCH SPACE. And that’s OK. Sometimes this newsletter can be missed too. But you can always come back to them, unlike a social media post.
B) I want to cultivate a small community of followers, friends and clients who think ALIKE or care to learn from me and my experiences. I have been able to learn from others who have provided a similar medium for me, and it’s enlightening. It seems to be a great way to consider your own life, learning about others. I want to use this channel to share ways of living that I find sustainable, realistic and sometimes healing. This will hopefully better give me encouragement to maintain them (practice what you preach sort of thing).
C) I want my business to feel a little more like me. I don’t always mesh with social media marketing. The speed of it, the over-stimulation… it’s just not 100% what I want my business and artwork to make people feel and I can sense it impacting my practice at times. I want this space to give room for other areas of myself that you (as clients) might take to better understand where my art comes from. As well, I want my business to influence you in more ways than just spending money on more photos… I want you to see photography how I do. For me it’s a way to time travel, a way to understand my past (which seriously impacts my present), a way to remember and a way to preserve.
What to Expect
Well… a little of everything, I guess. I recently learned that I can’t just send all email marketing to all people who have ever given me their email, you need to opt-in. However, I’m having a hard time listing specifically you what you’re getting out of MD. So this is what you AREN’T going to get from these emails:
- Full sessions I’ve captured for clients. Nope, you can go to my instagram or another part of my website for that. Or they aren’t for your eyes, that’s another reality.
- Advertisements, discounts, BOGOs or sales.
- Crap talk about sessions or about the industry. I might every once in a while gives tips or “what not to do” or share general annoyances but this is in no way a private gossip blog (lol).
Why “Monarch Diaries”
OK this part comes a bit half baked as I literally just thought of the name for these secret emails when I was beginning to write. But I want more things like that in my life. More: that’s the best idea because it’s the idea I came to first. Let’s get the tattoos, life is short and we’ve already made great decisions. We’re smart people, we’ve done smart things. Let’s just let this silly blog have a silly name that was actually made by… two silly little girls.
My sister and I grew up in the mid-nineties but it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realized our houses were COVERED in antiques. Something both my parents agreed on in terms of aesthetic. Our beds, therefor, were artistic cast iron frames with wire box springs, lifted pretty high with cast iron legs (reference my professional depiction to the left!). Now, my sister and I would “hide” underneath the beds and pretend that we were operating a store called the Butterfly Club. We sold all sorts of things that my mom would humour in buying from us.
Now, I felt a little silly comparing my business to the Butterfly Club but all I can remember from running that under-bed shop was giggling, secrets, “honesty”, creativity, and connection. Everything I want in my company, today. Literally everything. I want laughter, I want privacy, I want honest connection and honest communication. I want creativity coming in and out in a multitude of ways and I want this all over my life. Thus, welcome to the “Monarch Diaries”. An old butterfly thinking up perspectives on life. I hope you enjoy the ride and I look forward to sharing the next.
XX - Maple
